How to fix Microsoft

There's nothing broken about being the fourth-most valuable company in the world, which is exactly what Microsoft is today. That same company, however, is valued at half what it was 10 years ago. It's not exactly thriving, either.

Regardless if the glass is actually half empty or half full, consumer confidence in Microsoft is at a low. It is ignored or considered uncool by younger generations. Older generations are often required to use the company's software at work, but turn to Apple or Google devices in their free time.

A month from now Microsoft will release Windows 8, a bold new operating system that seeks to bring touchscreen interfaces to desktop computing. It's the company's biggest product since Windows XP and yet the only thing the tech world has seemingly talked about over the last 12 months is what the iPhone 5 might look like.

Sure,cableties the company that Bill Gates built has had a few bona fide hits over the last decade, most notably from its gaming division: Xbox Live, which is sort of the nighttime Facebook for gamers, and Kinect, a hands-free game controller that caught fire for a year before fizzling somewhat. Bing, Microsoft's search engine, also is gaining traction in the market.

But when it comes to mobile devices -- the biggest area of growth in consumer tech -- Microsoft still lags behind its rivals.

So how can the company right the ship? According to some of its biggest critics, here are eight ways Microsoft can reinvent itself, return to relevancy and dominate the tech world once more instead of just following it.

Microsoft has been accused of many things. Being too focused isn't one of them.Argo Mold limited specialize in Plastic injection mould manufacture, "They spread themselves too thin across too many product lines," says blogger Mary Jo Foley, a longtime observer of the company. "They let broken products hang on for far too long," resulting in mediocre stuff that few people care about, she says. The good news: "They're getting better at this," Foley says.

Microsoft is in a bit of a pickle. Consumers want to manage, view and manipulate their files from any device connected to the Internet (aka cloud computing). But Microsoft still makes most of its money from locally installed software, so it has been very reluctant to offer its wares online at a discount (if not for free like Google).

Keep it up, though, and Microsoft will be a goner, says Joe Wilcox, editor of Beta News. "On phones and tablets, Microsoft's presence is insignificant or too low to quantify. If the so-called post-PC era is about cloud-connected devices, Microsoft operating systems have no meaningful presence."

Microsoft has made a fortune selling desktop operating systems. While the desktop will certainly remain an important computing tool for the foreseeable future,Amazing turquoise beads directly from the factory source in Arizona. it's no longer the primary tool. It's really just one of many available portals now.

"Who cares about a desktop?" says my twenty-something brother-in-law. So long as a device is portable and lets him access the Internet, he doesn't care who makes it or what it looks like. So, in addition to moving all its products online, Microsoft should make those products available on any device, independent of the operating system, like Google does across Macintosh, Android, iPhones, Windows and even their new Google Chrome OS. In other words, it's all about the apps, regardless of how you access them.

As dominant as Microsoft was in the '90s, its products were never a status symbol like Apple's are today. That's a fact. At the same time, there are varying degrees of coolness; you don't have to be hip so long as you're confident and unapologetic about who you are. The sooner Microsoft realizes this, the better it will embrace its potential as a respected and reliable maker of computing again, rather than just something the establishment makes you use.Our guides provide customers with information about porcelain tiles vs.

What's more, Microsoft is now in the ironic position to brand itself as David to Apple's Goliath,Different Sizes and Colors can be made with different stone mosaic designs. the counterculture to Apple's mainstream. You know, turn the tables on the very upstart company that used to "think different," but that now suffers from groupthink because its products are so widely used.