Microsoft Deathwatch (Updated)

Paul Graham (who?) says that Microsoft is dead. He doesn't really mean it: he explains that by "dead" he means "increasingly irrelevant," which is to say--well, not dead.

But Graham's piece is still interesting, even to non-geeks as an exercise in business strategizing. Takeaway shot: "Yahoo [was] warped from the start by their fear of Microsoft. That was why they'd positioned themselves as a 'media company' instead of a technology company."

Reminds me of the yarn about how Western Union turned down the rights to the telephone because they didn't realize their business was communications. And Peter Drucker saying that the toughest part of business is figuring out what business you are in. Or something like that. H/T Kottke.

PS: Who is undead? Hint, begins with "G."

This Just In: The director of business development at Microsoft does not agree.