Wow. Great find. Very interesting!
It's hard to argue with the author's conclusion: MS has little choice but to try to make complete device, not just the software. But if that is the game, then MS will likely lose: the corporate culture needed to succeed at that is quite different from that of a plumbing-only (i consider MS Office to be just plumbing these days) software vendor. This would be a good time for Ballmer to step aside; He won't, but he should.