• Time , Tuesday, November 2, 2010 11 AM

Harry McCracken takes up where David Goldman and Ray Ozzie left off last week, wondering if "underdog" Microsoft can "get its mojo back." He says the update to the mobile OS next Monday is "bulging with fresh ideas" but is missing some key features and is running way behind the iPhone and handsets using Google's Android OS.

Bill Gates was ahead of his time with a tablet computer, although it wasn't nearly as innovative as Apple's iPad. In fact, "looking at every new opportunity through Windows-colored glasses" has seriously stymied innovation in recent years.

"Windows Phone 7 is so promising because it has little in common with Windows 7 beyond its name: rather than shoehorn the traditional Windows interface into a phone, Microsoft built something new," McCracken writes. And its new corporate tagline, "Be What's Next," may indicate that the company finally realizes the enormity of the challenge it faces.

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