-- Encourage mashups. Don't just publish programming interfaces -- give away the glue and make it easy to use. Make people want to buy Windows or use Windows Live because it's great for creating new and wonderful stuff, not because it's the same dreary junk everyone uses.

-- Quit pretending you're not in the hardware business. You make mice, keyboards and game machines, and they sell. When you create "concepts" like Tablet PCs, they collapse. Create hardware products, brand them, and sell them.

-- Give up on technical lock-in with proprietary protocols and formats. It doesn't work, and it just irritates customers.

-- Stop using the words "technically impossible." Nobody really believes there's anything Microsoft can't do.

-- Create new markets. Don't worry about capturing 100% of them - so what if other vendors or open-source projects pick up the crumbs? Be visionary, make magic happen, then compete like hell on the fresh playing field you've made.