Microsoft has a lot of disincentive to break its mold.

David Pogue: I would say that Microsoft has been an innovative company. They’ve done some really interesting things. Most of the things that they’ve tried to do that broke new ground have been horrible failures.

The SPOT Watch, a wristwatch that gets your e-mail, weather, sports, stocks, right on your wrist. The fact that it requires a monthly fee for your watch and it stops working when you leave your area code and the fact that you have to recharge it every single night, it never became a massive hit.

The Tablet PC; I remember Bill Gates saying at one trade show that in five years the Tablet PC would be the predominant kind of laptop, sort of innovative in its way. It found niches, healthcare, insurance, but is it 50 percent? No, it’s 5 percent.

The wireless screen, that was interesting. For a while they sold just a screen that communicated with the actual computer wirelessly. It died a horrible death. So they do try and they do innovate. You can’t say they’ve never innovated. They also do an awful lot of copying of other people though.

Recorded on May 15, 2008