For all of its size and influence, Microsoft has been built to react rapidly to changing competition, user demands, computing models and, yes, legal pressure.
At no time in its history has that ability to cope with change been tested as it has in the year since the government found the company guilty of illegally wielding its monopoly power.
The company has faced, and still faces, the possibility of a breakup; it has had to rebuild relationships with software and hardware partners; it has had to cope with the demand for Web-based services - and the competitors that run them - that has emerged; and legal pressures are still there despite the impending ruling from the US Court of Appeals.
How has the company reacted to these tumultuous times? As always, there's no consensus among its partners, customers and competitors about how much Microsoft has changed its ways. Its most vocal critics claim that the more things change, the more they stay the same.
But most partners, customers and even competitors say Microsoft is bending - against its will, perhaps - but bending nonetheless.
After a year of doubt about a court-ordered breakup, there's a new optimism surrounding the company since it fared well in the Court of Appeals in February. Coupled with plans for new operating systems and the slow but sure rollout of its .Net software-as-a-service strategy, one could say Microsoft is as powerful and confident as ever.
And therein lies the rub. Has Microsoft really changed or merely dodged a bullet and momentarily adjusted to accommodate conventional wisdom?
Its latest endeavors, .Net and HailStorm, have become lightning rods for measuring just how far Microsoft has come in terms of opening itself up to user needs and competitive inter-operability. On these issues, friends and foes are sharply divided.
Ed Black, president of the Washington-based Computer & Communications Industry Association, whose members include Sun Microsystems and America Online said the HailStorm strategy is a blueprint for another anti-trust case.
