Bambi Francisco indicates that Microsoft might just be too old, too slow, too stodgy and, dare we say it, too bulky to play with the youngsters in the online sandbox any more. She points to the new YouTube clone, Soapbox, that Microsoft is rolling out.

You know, I’m starting to agree with Bambi. I’ve always said don’t count Microsoft out, because I still remember what they did to Netscape, but they seem to be lagging further and further behind the cutting edge. Increasingly, the game is being taken out of the courts they tend to dominate in. It’s okay to be late to the party if you’re bringing the beer, but increasingly, Microsoft is showing up with a case of empties (okay..maybe I’m stretching the analogy beyond the breaking point).

Is Microsoft finally becoming the dinosaur that everyone’s always accused them of being? Perhaps the world is changing too quickly for them to keep up. When’s the last innovation that rolled out of Redmond that wasn’t a pale and inferior imitation of something that already existed? One can’t help thinking that perhaps Bill Gates could see the writing on the wall and bailed when he could.