????上周五的員工年會(huì)之后，迷你微軟（Mini-Microsoft）網(wǎng)站上的相關(guān)評論在微軟（Microsoft）公司的博客上激起了千層浪。迷你微軟一向是員工們匿名發(fā)言、直抒胸臆的地方，從微軟員工在今年的年度大會(huì)后發(fā)布的留言數(shù)量和基調(diào)來看，在這家總部位于雷德蒙市公司，員工士氣已經(jīng)跌至新低。

????WinRumors網(wǎng)站甚至聲稱，多位員工在史蒂夫?鮑爾默演講時(shí)當(dāng)場離開。雖然我們無法證實(shí)這類報(bào)道，但員工們的留言卻說明了一切。在線新聞網(wǎng)站Seattle PI在此摘選出了其中一些具有代表性的評論。其中一些引起了我的注意，它們著眼于鮑爾默所領(lǐng)導(dǎo)的微軟在與蘋果（Apple）、谷歌（Google）等同行競爭時(shí)所面臨的困境。

????史蒂夫?鮑爾默掌管微軟期間的所作所為與小布什在2000-2008年期間統(tǒng)帥美國時(shí)的做法如出一轍，典型的成事不足敗事有余。盡管人們對于史蒂芬?思諾思夫斯基（Windows操作系統(tǒng)部的總裁，也是最有希望成為下一任CEO的人選）贊許有加，但無助于改變微軟的大局。只要他和Window系統(tǒng)繼續(xù)把持微軟公司，創(chuàng)新則不得不選擇逃離微軟，另覓生機(jī)。

????這也讓我意識(shí)到當(dāng)初美國司法部（DOJ）決定將微軟拆分為多個(gè)業(yè)務(wù)部門的想法是多么英明。

????所有這些關(guān)于與蘋果競爭的話題早已是老生常談了？

????我認(rèn)為在這場“戰(zhàn)爭”中，微軟已經(jīng)輸給了蘋果，原因有二：

????1. iPad有效地控制了游戲規(guī)則的制定權(quán)。

????1. 蘋果更清楚如何才能贏得這場競爭。

????如果將“蘋果”替換為“谷歌”，“iPad”換成“搜索”，結(jié)果也將如出一轍：

????1、 谷歌搜索有效地控制了游戲規(guī)則的制定權(quán)。

????2、 谷歌更清楚如何才能贏得這場競爭。

????盡管微軟擁有豐富的軟件開發(fā)資源，但這家公司在下面這些方面竟然缺乏整體觀：

????1） 設(shè)計(jì)；

????2） 實(shí)用性；以及

????3） 對終端用戶體驗(yàn)的理解

????雇用再多的程序開發(fā)員也解決不了這個(gè)問題，同樣，將所有的測試員變?yōu)殚_發(fā)員也無濟(jì)于事。

????試圖與其他公司的優(yōu)勢進(jìn)行競爭并企圖超越其他公司，這種做法無異于自取其辱，然而微軟卻一直樂此不疲。

????這些評論都是博客Mini-Microsoft上一篇題為《周五！周五！周五！微軟全體員工相會(huì)在周五》（Friday! Friday! Friday! Microsoft Company Meeting Friday!）文章的跟帖。這些評論無疑會(huì)讓微軟的投資者感到陣陣寒意。

????The Microsoft (MSFT) blogs are having a field day mining the stream of comments left on Mini-Microsoft after Friday's annual employee meeting. The site has traditionally been a place for staffers to let off steam anonymously, but the tone and volume of the remarks made after this year's gathering suggest that morale in Redmond has hit a new low.

????We can't confirm reports that employees left "in droves" during CEO Steve Ballmer's speech, as WinRumors has it, but the comments speak for themselves. Seattle PI has published a representative selection here. The one that caught my eye focused on the difficulty Ballmer's Microsoft has competing with the likes of Apple (AAPL) and Google (GOOG):

????Steve Ballmer has done to Microsoft what George W. Bush did to the United States from 2000-2008 -- run things straight into the ground. And all this praise for Steven Sinosfsky [president of the Windows division, seen by many as the next CEO] isn't going to change much at Microsoft. As long as he and Windows have the dominating presence on Microsoft and all its businesses, innovation will find paths outside the company and elsewhere.

????It makes me think that the DOJ had the right idea way back when -- break up MS into several Baby-Bills.

????All this talk about competing with Apple -- haven't this all been heard before?

????I assert that Microsoft has already lost this 'battle' with Apple for two reasons:

????1. iPad effectively dictates the rules of the game now.

????2. Apple is simply better at what it takes to win at this game.

????If you substitute 'Google' for 'Apple', and 'iPad' for 'Search' you get something remarkably similar:

????1. Search effectively dictates the rules of the game now.

????2. Google is simply better at what it takes to win at this game.

????In these competitive spaces outside the enterprise, Microsoft, for all its software development resources, simply doesn't get the larger concepts of -

????1) Design;

????2) Usability; and

????3) Understanding the end-user customer experience.

????Throwing more developers at the problem doesn't make it solved. Turning all testers into developers helps in no way either.

????Trying to compete with these companies to do something better than they do -- when they already do it very well -- is a setup for failure, and has been for a very long time.

????The comments are attached to the Mini-Microsoft post entitled Friday! Friday! Friday! Microsoft Company Meeting Friday! They make chilling reading for Microsoft investors.