When will Microsoft ever get it right?

The last thing the world needs is another anti-Microsoft blog post.  But here goes!  No; just kidding.  Actually, I really love Microsoft's products and solutions.  They are, for the most part, quite intuitive and gorgeous to look at. They're also worlds beyond all other operating systems and, because of this and the fact that Windows is still the most popular OS out there, amplifies its shortcomings to gargantuan proportions.  An example would be how people are always saying that Macs never get viruses.  This is only because Macs don't have anywhere near the users as does Windows, and if there's one consistent trait amongst hackers it's ego.  It's huge, so why would they waste their time writing viruses for Apple's meager audience when there's a much larger one out there?  This is why, I believe, Apple doesn't have a virus issue and not because the Apple OS so wonderful.

But...

Microsoft should never have allowed Apple (or Palm or Blackberry or, now, Google) to infiltrate and take over the desktop, mobile, and web app market.  They had (and still have) the best and the brightest working for them, their products are superb and their market reach is still the largest one going.  But they seem to make such stupid mistakes with every turn they take.  Their whole web platform, Live (or is it Bing?!), is just a complete disaster.  Separately, each application (Hotmail, Skydrive, etc.) is really amazing and beats the pants off of all of their competitors.  However, what they've created is a labyrinthine mess of applications that don't integrate well with each other or with the user and, as a result, causes more headaches than anything else.  There is so  much foolish limitations and redundancies that one really doesn't know where to start (in part because there is no clear "start page") and upon entering the jungle, the user is immediately engulfed in clicks which promise possibilities but deliver very little, all the while getting deeper and deeper into the forest...and with no breadcrumbs!

Why does Microsoft do this?  They cannot be this stupid.  As I've said, their desktop software is, imho, amazing, Windows Mobile makes other apps (iPhone, Google, Palm, etc.) look like first-graders, and their web apps (separately!) are just brilliant.  The solution:  integrate everything.  And I do mean everything.  Make OfficeLive (change this name, too) as the much needed (and severely lacking) central hub.  Increase the user account to something like fifty, and let people integrate, integrate, integrate!  I'm not saying to give up your precious SharePoint or Exchange, but, geesh, come on, MS, make it happen already!  It's just so sad to see such great talent go to such waste.