>>Hugo, MS may lose their gatekeeper role but they can reinvent and survive just as IBM did when they found themselves where MS is today.
>
>They first have to show that they have got the message. They may spend another year getting reorganized.
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>Besides, how many years did it take IBM to get their act together again?

It's a common fallacy that IBM was in serious trouble because of its failure to dominate the PC business.
Of course it missed a huge opportunity, but IBM was making, and still makes, tons of money on its mainframe lines.
Lou Gerstner sold the PC-related businesses (great move - contrast that with the monumental blunder that HP made by buying Compaq) and added services as a major revenue source.