Weaknesses
Mobile: Bill Gates unveiled the tablet PC to a crowd of over 12,000 people at COMDEX back in November 2000. Unfortunately, the market had zero interest in tablets at the time. Windows Phone is still struggling to make a dent in what has essentially become a two-horse race between iOS and Android.
Bing: Bing is currently the No. 2 search engine on the Internet. It's also, in the words of BusinessInsider, a “rat hole” where Microsoft's balance sheet goes to die. Microsoft has spent $10 billion promoting and supporting Bing. The result? Less than half of Google's revenues, and people still say “Google it.”
“Stack Ranking” Culture: Vanity Fair's indictment of the company's “stack ranking” system, and its detrimental effects on company morale and innovation under Ballmer's leadership, was scathing.
Radical Refresh: Windows 8 is in many ways an even more radical change of Microsoft's core product line than Windows 95. While the new Windows operating system is more aesthetically pleasing than previous incarnations, the learning curve may keep many users from upgrading.
Negative Perception: Despite Microsoft's enviable reputation with its business customers, the software giant is perceived by many competitors, consumers and even governments to be a ruthless, monopolistic minded firm that leverages the it's Windows operating system to torpedo its competition.
Dependency: Microsoft is dependent on hardware manufacturers to pre-load– and design their products to make the most of – the Windows operating system. In fairness, this is beginning to change.