The five signs that Microsoft is under duress.

The five signs that Microsoft is under duress:

• Their Windows partners have started branching out to Google's Chrome OS.  This Fall there will be Chrome OS devices from Acer, ASUS, HP, Toshiba and Samsung.
• Nokia was ready to move to Android starting in 2014, and were they to do so, analysts agree that Windows Phone was a dead mobile platform.  But having bought out Nokia's Devices and Services division, Microsoft is relying on vague and rhetorical arguments that it will magically triple its market share over the next four years.  Nokia was instrumental in growing WP's market share, but the boost isn't anywhere big enough to extrapolate to a tripling of market share in four years.
• Windows RT, a complete rewrite of code to support ARM processors, was made moot by Intel's Haswell.  Why?  Because you're going to be able to sideload your existing Windows apps / software, while enjoying the competitive specs (battery life + performance) of ARM mobile chips.  Microsoft's partners even say so.  And it was predicted this past Spring.
• It's bad enough that Intel's new SOC chip makes Windows RT moot, but Intel is a member of the Open Handset Alliance and has made a significant push to support Android with its Android-IA.  But it's hard to blame Intel, since Windows 8 has had uninspiring adoption rates, and Android device sales is set to overtake Windows next year.
• For all of the billions spent trying to boost Bing, Bing's market share hasn't budged all that much.  Even Yahoo wants out, albeit there's probably some bias with Marissa Mayer at the helm.

It doesn't mean that Microsoft will "fail". What it means is that Microsoft is quickly losing its standing in the tech industry as a vital partner that everyone wanted to hook up with.

Microsoft of late hasn't been the kind of company that can move fast enough to keep up with Google and many others, which makes its acquisition of Nokia's D&S odd, because Nokia made their transition to WP relatively fast, but now it's under the wing of a company not known to move nearly as fast.  I've been down on Stephen Elop quite a lot, but he did manage to make Nokia move twice as fast as Blackberry; were he to speed up Microsoft, we're talking a different story.  Still, corporate culture is hard to change overnight.