When you were growing up, did you ever have to deal with The Jealous Kid? It didn’t matter how good he was at something; it wasn’t good enough unless he was better than you at whatever you were good at. It didn’t matter what cool toys he had; they weren’t good enough unless he had the better version of your toys. And what good did The Jealous Kid ever do for anybody? He had no creativity because he just stole whatever the other children wanted or had, so he did nothing but wreak agitation and malcontent. That may seem like harsh language, but think about it: Doesn’t that sound a bit like Microsoft’s business strategy?

For the most part, I readily include myself in the group of people who are sick of hearing people complain about Microsoft. As if any of it is breaking news. Nevertheless, I was just flabbergasted by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer’s latest statement.

I read about it at MacWorld: Ballmer: ‘No way’ Apple will win digital media war. He said, “There is no way you can get there with Apple,” and proceeded to explain why Microsoft would beat Apple, Sony, and others in the digital media war.

Granted, I understand that there is big money in the digital media revolution, and leadership in this arena is important for any large computer/software company. But I am seriously growing tired of Microsoft chasing after the other children, trying to steal their toys because it has tired of its own. Among others, Microsoft has done this in the operating system, productivity suite, web browser, and game console arenas. You can even see Microsoft metaphorically dropping its toy in stagnant indifference as it stalks its latest target: For instance, Microsoft has let its operating system and web browser projects slip while it divides its focus yet again by pursuing the digital media crowd. Sure, Microsoft has vowed to work on improving these different systems as needed, but results have been scant. If you consider the Jealous Kid business strategy, it really is no amazing coincidence that Microsoft isn’t seeing significant results in improving the arenas that it has already comprehensively clinched (consider the operating system, web browser, or productivity suite arenas), whereas the arenas that it has not yet done so experienced amazing output (consider the XBox). This fact is further fueled by Microsoft’s renewed zeal to improve Internet Explorer, something in which Microsoft had expressed very little interest before IE’s market share began seriously dropping due to consumer discontent.

How very business-like; how very detrimental to the industry. Just like The Jealous Kid.