Doth the Bell Toll for Thee, Microsoft?

"Mac vs. PC" by Etchasketchist, with permission. Cool!

Microsoft's getting busy this spring, as well they should. Reports of two separate deals struck by the corporate behemoth with NBC Universal and Hyundai came rolling in late last night, as well as a flurry of speculation and analysis on the failed Yahoo buy-out. Despite last-ditch efforts, is this the beginning of the end for Gates & Co?

The NBC deal means you'll be able to watch 30 Rock and Top Chef on your Zune, a pleasure currently denied to iPod users. But Apple users have been able to watch television content on their iPods for two years now, and Microsoft is only now making that content available for Zuners. Too little, too late on that front.

In 2010, Microsoft's new partnership with Hyundai will bring us an invention with the cumbersome title of an "Automotive IT Innovation Center." The multimedia/internet-capable car system concept isn't really anything groundbreaking, as other companies are working on similar systems, but it's the effort that counts....right?

And the latest friendly bickering about the MS/Yahoo debacle just tuckers us out. Yes, true: it's Yahoo's prerogative to ask for more money and it's Microsoft's prerogative to say no. But what other similarly market-shifting buyout/merger options are even out there?

Still, we're reluctant to sound the death knell for Microsoft just yet. After all, we grew up on the Bill Gates legend! And though this Seattlest doesn't have any relatives who've worked for the company, lucrative Redmond jobs put food in many of our friends' mouths in the '90s. Monopoly, proprietary software (*cough*), and nostalgic sentiment fully aside, is it so wrong to hope for a rebirth of well-designed, user-friendly, true innovation from Microsoft in the next five years?