Microsoft faces an uncertain future. It is not a given that people will continue to buy Windows over Mac OSX or Office over Open Office and Google Docs. I have wondered what strategy Microsoft would pursue. Microsoft seemed to pursue a web and services strategy with the ascension of Ray Ozzie to Chief Software Architect. Robert Cringley has a different idea:

Same for Microsoft, which with its Yahoo acquisition will quite consciously try to convert itself into the next General Electric, a company that uses its sheer economic power to make most of its money.

It is an intriguing idea, but short on a method to make it happen. I think that Cringley may be underestimating the what it took for GE to go from a 19th century electrical parts manufacturer to global holding conglomerate. I think it will take far more than a style injection that Yahoo would provide. It might be interesting to see a future Jack Donaghy working for Microsoft as Senior Vice President of Mobile Computing Platforms, Medical Devices Manufacturing, and U.S. television news programing. I might just watch a show based on that premise.