MS is not a technology innovator, and never have been. They acquire or copy technology. They generally make very slight improvements to the technology they copy in order to move the marketplace. The value they add to this business is their ability to package technology and make it relevent to large number of buyers, both consumers and businesses.

Generally, the privilege of running the latest technology goes hand in hand with the disappointment of watching it be eclipsed by a process innovator like Microsoft. Microsoft's success has absolutely nothing to do with technical finesse.

Most technical innovators do not have the business processes or skills in place to push their technologies out to a large market. And in many cases they are not particularly interested in doing so. Although he did invent the lightbulb, Thomas Edison was a terrible businessman, and his company's success had little to do with his business skills.

As such, it will always be possible to find systems that are technically superior to Microsoft. The "discovery" of this or that technology that is superior is not really that interesting. But it will be hard to find systems that come from companies that have better marketing processes in place.