Microsoft has itself to blame at least in part for strengthening the hand of its rivals. A controversial new software licensing policy, which raises prices for some customers and asks them to pay in advance for future releases, has angered many Microsoft customers and driven them to seek cheaper alternatives such as Linux.

MS NEEDS to show CONTINUING growth.

Else, MS's stock drops and people start to wonder whether MS is in trouble.

This was easy when the market was still growing.

Now, the market is mature. It is saturated. The software you have TODAY will do the job you need it to do TOMORROW.

So MS needs to generate revenue from customers who already have their product.

So MS needs to take more money from its existing customers.

But the customers don't like this anymore.

And it will only GET WORSE.

Showing continued growth with require continually increasing fees.

Again, these fees come from the customers.

The OTHER problem MS has is that SOME people are MIGRATING from Windows.

This causes a REDUCTION in MS's customer base.

Which means that every REMAINING customer has to pay a bit more to make up for those few migrating customers.

Which leads to a few more customers migrating because of costs.

And the cycle repeats itself.