First Sony, now Microsoft?

The PS3 looks to be a catastrophe in the making, and now Microsoft's Vista may be, as this author calls it, the end of Microsoft's Monolith:

Microsoft also released details of US pricing for the new operating system. The 'Home Basic' version will cost $199. 'Home Premium' comes at $239. 'Vista Business' is priced at $299. And 'Vista Ultimate' weighs in at a whopping $399. Security vulnerabilities come free with all versions. There is also to be a 'Vista Starter' edition which will be marketed to people in poor countries in a futile attempt to stop them pirating Vista Ultimate and selling it on the streets of Shanghai, Bangkok and Singapore for a dollar a pop....

The difficulties in developing Vista stemmed from its monolithic structure and the need for 'backwards compatibility', ie ensuring that software used by customers on older versions of Windows will work under Vista. This vast accumulation of legacy applications acts like an anchor on innovation. The Vista trauma has convinced some Microsoft engineers that they will have to adopt a radically different approach....

Up next - Sony ships a new competitive operating system for PCs, while Microsoft corners the home electronics market with the Xbox 360. Apple - looking for something to spend all that iPod money on - buys Disney, and re-writes The Path to 9/11 so Steve Jobs punches Mohammed Atta in the face.

Why not?