Most of the time (well, recently) I’ve not bothered reading what Rory has been posting of late, as I find it disjointed, and for me, irrelevant. But this one is classic – Joel-On-Software, Seth-Godin-Book, Kathy-Sierra-Passionate classic. It’s funny, insiteful, intelligent, to the point (tho quite long), etc etc. It’s the reason why I keep at least scanning what he writes every time he posts something.

And I think, from a single reading thru, that I totally agree. Microsoft’s issue is DEFINITELY not their products, it’s their perception in the market. And changing the CEO isn’t going to change that.

I don’t care what any of you buttheads say – Microsoft has some of the best software in the world. Hands-down. It isn’t perfect (no software is). It does cost money (everything costs something – whether it’s a licensing fee or billable consultation hours, there’s money being made off of anything composed of ones and zeroes). Our developer tools are incredible. Our operating systems are improving all the time (with my favorite – Windows CE – increasing in quality at a rate that’s unbelievable), our office suite is the subject of imitation by many open-source and commercial groups, and we have many great peripheral software and services.

Yet… we’re not looking so good.

Why? I think you should know by now. [Perception]

Worth spending 10 mins reading it.