IMHO a key element in that article is the reference to Silverlight as the "f*ck-you Windows" product. Silverlight has to be cross-platform to succeed but being cross-platform is a blow to Windows, which remains the powerhouse Microsoft product.

You don't have to look very far to find similar examples of in-fighting inside a once great company/nation while Rome burns.

Now might be a good time for MS to reflect on its goals. Is dominance of the user experience still a goal? If so then winPhone is crucial to MS's continued dominance of the UI. They've already lost their ability to tax everybody via the big hardware suppliers who (apart from Apple itself and HP, temporarily) have all gone for Android. MS still has commitment from phone suppliers but those suppliers already are supplying other OS, mostly Android, so it won't be easy to replicate the Windows by default/tax on every sale that prevailed for so long in the PC market. Perhaps the manufacturers will send out phones that can use *any* OS so T-mobile or the customer can load Windows if they want it or Android or one of the upgraded Nucleus OS out of China, or a totally proprietary OS, or whatever. FWIW the providers already install custom OS to get their brand on the default startup screen and custom settings and special apps. If the cost of OS is separated from the cost of device then the OS is going to be free or very cheap -thanks Google- with most of the cost in the hardware, bringing us neatly back to the start of the computer age.