Lost: If Microsofties Can’t Live Together, Microsoft May Die Alone

There's a very interesting op-ed piece in The New York Times today entitled Microsoft’s Creative Destruction. In it, the author details what he feels are the reasons that Microsoft has failed to innovate at the same pace as their competitors over the years. Big deal, right? After all, a lot of people write these types of pieces all the time. The difference this time? It's by Dick Brass, who was a vice president at Microsoft for seven years, from 1997 to 2004. Brass' comments have caused such a fuss, that Microsoft's vice president of corporate communications was even forced to respond on their official blog. And while obviously Microsoft's PR team is going to downplay some of Brass' comments, and refute others with counter examples, the post completely ignores what I see to be Brass' main point: that Microsoft has become a place with dozens if not hundreds of civil wars going on within the company.