I totally agree. Microsoft basically stopped innovating around 2000, when they began catering less to the consumer and more to the enterprise, because that's where the money was.
IMHO, the merging of Win 98/ME and Win NT/2000 took the life out of both. XP and every release since have been torn between the incompatible goals of pleasing both enterprises and consumers.
I think splitting Microsoft into two companies, one focused on consumers and the other on enterprises, makes a lot of sense. These two new companies should both get full access to the current Microsoft technology stack. And they can take it in different directions based on the needs of their respective target market.
We can again have a consumer Windows focusing on competing with Mac OS X/iOS and Android, leaving the boring enterprise market to the other company.
"Microsoft basically stopped innovating around 2000"
Microsoft never innovated in the first place. The BASIC compilers, the command line, word processor, the spreadsheet, the graphical OS, the visual compiler, the browser, the graphics drivers... all were invented outside Microsoft.
Microsoft strength was not inventing tech, but on adopting tech made by others and riding the wave of hundreds of millions of people getting access to computers.
IMHO, the merging of Win 98/ME and Win NT/2000 took the life out of both. XP and every release since have been torn between the incompatible goals of pleasing both enterprises and consumers.
I think splitting Microsoft into two companies, one focused on consumers and the other on enterprises, makes a lot of sense. These two new companies should both get full access to the current Microsoft technology stack. And they can take it in different directions based on the needs of their respective target market.
We can again have a consumer Windows focusing on competing with Mac OS X/iOS and Android, leaving the boring enterprise market to the other company.