I think they often catch up, but they are not always playing catch up. For example, Kinnect demolished the gaming console competition and now it's being used in very interesting ways attached to a PC. Windows Phone, while not a consumer hit, is winning many awards for ease of use and UI design. Did you see Google Glasses this last week? Guess what...Microsoft did it years ago.

>I have been updating my skills but not with MS. I have seen a lot of so called "next best thing" products just fade away with MS. MS has always been a marketing company not a technology company. A lot of their new stuff shows it. Don't get me wrong, MS has do a lot of good stuff too but they are always catching up. That goes for windows, NT, office ....