Is Microsoft right now like IBM was in the 80s?

This interesting article compares the Microsoft of today with the place IBM found itself in the 1980s. That is, IBM owned the computing marketplace with mainframes and then PCs, which ironically started running Microsoft DOS (Disk Operating System) after Microsoft muscled in and replaced IBM's own OS/2 operating system. Then IBM started spiraling towards the bottom of the barrel as Microsoft started licensing its operating system (way before Windows) to every To, Dick and Harry that could assemble a personal computer. IBM, which has the most popular PC on the market until that time, started fluttering away as cheap alternatives to IBM PCs flooded the market. This caused Microsoft to grow exponentially and IBM to shrink at a similar rate.

Is Microsoft doomed to the same fate today? Are we seeing the first signs that Microsoft may become irrelevant in the near future in terms of software that runs on personal computers? I doubt it will be as dramatic as the plunge IBM faced, but I do see things changing for the giant from Redmond soon. The arrogant Microsoft supporters and IT departments, as this article suggests, live on a different plane from consumers -- consumers who just want machines that WORK. Windows Vista, while grand, will not be the savior of Microsoft in any way. It will be a fine product release, but not a time-turning-back machine.

With Apple's hardware now running Windows and the MacOS, and with Linux versions becoming so easy to use (have you tried Linux lately?), and with super-competitor Google releasing products over the web faster than Microsoft can breathe, this is one of the biggest competitive environments Microsoft has ever seen. It's rare, however, that the "angle" mentioned about is rarely reported as everyone continues plugging away in the Windows universe. But, make no mistake: It's happening right now. So, will Microsoft let the attack on its Windows and Office franchises continue unabated? Highly doubtful -- and Ray Ozzie will probably see that this does not happen. He's got a heckuva job to do, and Microsoft's livelihood depends on it.