This New York Times op-ed is a must-read for anyone interested in Microsoft's future, especially those who wish it will re-emerge as a creative leader rather than an also-ran.

Is that a dis? Dick Brass, who ran Microsoft's Tablet PC program (launched a decade ago; I remember prototypes at a Comdex trade show back then) talks about how Redmond's corporate culture has squelched the creative spark.

Here's a tease:

"Unlike other companies, Microsoft never developed a true system for innovation. Some of my former colleagues argue that it actually developed a system to thwart innovation. Despite having one of the largest and best corporate laboratories in the world, and the luxury of not one but three chief technology officers, the company routinely manages to frustrate the efforts of its visionary thinkers.

For example, early in my tenure, our group of very clever graphics experts invented a way to display text on screen called ClearType. It worked by using the color dots of liquid crystal displays to make type much more readable on the screen. Although we built it to help sell e-books, it gave Microsoft a huge potential advantage for every device with a screen. But it also annoyed other Microsoft groups that felt threatened by our success."

Required reading.