Microsoft may have intelligent
engineers but their upper management is full of morons. The people who run the company are still stuck in the mid 80's to mid 90's Microsoft strategy mindset. That strategy was to destroy all competition by whichever means possible (including unethical and illegal tactics, of which they've been found guilty and in the EU fined over $600 million), using FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) to discourage people from adopting competing technologies and products, and last but certainly not least, copying existing (and much better) technologies and products and killing off the originals (for instance, DR-DOS was the original and better DOS than Microsoft's).
If you look at Microsoft's products, they have not been successful (read: profitable) with anything except for Windows and Office. In the 90's there was a time when they really were the best option on the PC, because their competitors made lots of stupid mistakes (Apple included). Back then their success was considered deserved (even
Steve Jobs said "they've earned their success.. for the most part", circa 1996) However, the only reason they're
still dominant in Windows/Office is because of the anti-competitive tactics they've used to create and maintain a monopoly.
Microsoft will probably never make any really good, original products until their current upper management is replaced. Right now the people who run the company don't give half a rat's ass about consumers. This is why their products suck, not because they don't have good engineers. The current management thinks that the way to make a profitable product is to copy something that's successful and then push the original company out of the market, leaving MS as the only option. Of course it won't work with Apple and it won't work with Sony, or any other major company. But that doesn't stop them from trying and hemorrhaging tons of money.
This is why nobody should support Microsoft. They might make products that somewhat resemble what Apple makes, and even sell them cheaper, but these products are subsidized by the monopoly sales of Windows and Office. The Zune is just a poor attempt to undercut Apple, in a desperate move by MS to become profitable in something other than Windows and Office, which they know won't be monopoly cash cows forever.
