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I was a guest on an internet talk show Saturday night, sort of like The Late Show for geeks and heavy metal fans. In discussing the news in the tech world, someone brought up Bill Gates leaving Microsoft and what effect it might have. Some fairly lively discussion ensued, as you would expect. Most of it centered around the likelihood that Bill could never really leave except feet first.

While that is probably true, it misses a more important point: Gates no longer matters. Microsoft is totally wrapped up in legacy code, legacy attitude, and legacy FAIL. It does not matter if Bill is there, whether Ballmer is there, or whether Vista sucks as badly as it certainly does. Nothing is likely to change at Microsoft because the corporate culture will not allow it. Microsoft in an undying legend in its own mind.

I am more than a little thrilled that I turned down a chance to work there, even when the culture was less legacy-bound. Once leadership begins to believe their own hype, innovation is over. I would have hated that. Microsoft has been following from the front of the pack for years now. New ideas come from somewhere back in the pack. Microsoft eventually notices some of them and either tries to buy them or bury them. Worse even than their lack of innovation is their often-effective strangling of new ideas that may compete with their legacy buggy whips.

There are good people at Microsoft. Occasionally, you hear the weak echo of a new idea coming from the troops. But those would also require change, and Microsoft has forgotten how to do that. So they even stifle any innovation from within, favoring the Legacy Paradigm that controls the company. Bill can stay or go. Ballmer can be as loony as he wants. It doesn't matter. Microsoft is going to continue driving blindly down their chosen road until the fatal crash. I hope they don't hurt the technology arena, and consumers, any worse than is necessary on their road to self-destruction.