[Nokinside]

Gates-Ballmer era in Microsoft was incredibly successful, but not because they had technological insight or creativity.

It's hard to come up with any technological innovations from inside Microsoft in 80's and 90's. Microsoft strategy was to buy out companies that seemed to build something new and either integrate the software or bury it. Gates and Ballmer were both smart and ultra-aregressive ruthless businessmen. Technology was always secondary to business.

Few examples of their failures and corrective measures: The internet and the browser, Java and Smartphones. In each case they were hopelessly late and their reaction was buying spree, failure and repeat until success.

[kyberias]

"any technological innovations ... in 80's and 90's"

What? Ok, first, do you think they've ever innovated anything? During the 2000's? What exactly?

Wasn't Windows NT, for example, innovative? The kernel is still powering the Windows operating system.

Internet Explorer was a hugely successful browser dominating the market.

Innovation isn't only creating something from scratch. One can also create innovative products by acquiring the basis for that and developing until it is successful.

Of course they're approach has been to "repeat until success". And they quite often get there.

[Nokinside]

>Wasn't Windows NT, for example, innovative?

MS hired VAX VMS team to write their second system. It was basic engineering and basically next better version of VMS from scratch.

>Internet Explorer was a hugely successful browser dominating the market.

Only because monopoly power. IE6 delayed new innovations from emerging.

[gizmodo59]

> Internet Explorer was a hugely successful browser dominating the market.

Mostly because it was shipped with Windows and many people wont change it (Non tech). Furthermore, setting aside the anti-trust case, I would rather say they did not capitalize on that start they got IMHO.

[yuhong]

Though the Netscape Mariner debacle probably didn't help either.

[vladjjj]

I think they actually did a good job against the java language and runtime with C# and .NET (with no small help from Oracle)

[AnimalMuppet]

But C# isn't much of an innovation on Java. It's more of a clone with a few tweaks.