No good will ever come from trying not to lose. That's the key takeaway in the Microsoft / Yahoo story. Everyone knows by now that Microsoft has walked away from their bid for Yahoo. The story has been covered everywhere. The real story is that Microsoft needs to re-evaluate its franchise and start to build with purpose again. For whatever reason Microsoft has moved to a defensive position, always looking to protect their current franchise. Like any entity taking a defensive position, it's easier to defend when its more narrowly defined. This explains why Microsoft is so intent on defending the desktop. Certainly, they have a strong position in desktop apps, but don't they also have a strong position in the network and the server? Why did they decide to defend the desktop so urgently when their franchise is really client - network - server. Taking a less narrow view of their market would have led them to pursue a broader range of options when the Internet became a reality. Similarly, they have recently invested in Facebook, a social networking site. By itself this is ok, but seen in a larger lens it looks again like a defensive move. Meanwhile Micorsoft owns 4 different enterprise applications, and noone in the enterprise market has yet integrated social networking functions - which are the same as collaboration tools in their underlying defintion - into an enterprise software suite. A company the size and heft of Microsoft has to be able to manage threats to its business. We all understand this. But they must also take some challenging directions to new innovations, new markets, new ideas. The interesting thing with Microsoft is that they have so much positive cash flow, you must wonder if this is a positive thing or not. When you have so much, does it remove a sense of urgency and create a sense of entitlement? They certainly did not fight for Yahoo like they just had to have it. Oracle ended of buying Peoplesoft for $26.50 after an initial bid of $16. | 
