In the browser wars that began in the 1990s, it took more than a decade for regulators to stop Microsoft exploiting its dominance with users of Windows software. In today’s mobile battles, customers have done so themselves in six months. Microsoft’s rapid retreat over Windows 8 – the latest, mobile-inspired, version of its operating software – shows wise flexibility rather than its traditional obstinacy. But it also demonstrates that Steve Ballmer, the company’s chief executive, has lost the power to “embrace and extend” the Windows hegemony into new fields.
在始於20世紀90年代那場瀏覽器大戰中，監管機構花了10年多的時間才阻止了微軟(Microsoft)濫用其Windows軟體在用戶中的主導地位。而在今天的移動戰場上，顧客只用了6個月時間就取得了同樣的結果。微軟在Windows 8上迅速撤退，展現出也有明智而靈活的一面，不再像以往一樣固執己見。Windows 8是微軟最新版的操作系統，迎合了移動設備發展趨勢。但這也表明，微軟執行長史蒂夫•鮑爾默(Steve Ballmer)已經失去了「擁抱並拓展」微軟的壟斷地位進入新領域的能力。