From Windows Vista to Zune, it's easy to focus on Microsoft's struggles these days. The analysts at independent research firm Directions on Microsoft offer a different take in their latest article -- drawing business lessons from the strategies Bill Gates & Co. used to build the world's largest software company. The piece is available here: What Microsoft Got Right: The First 30 Years.

The article highlights strategies including Microsoft's focus on software developers, its willingness to invest for the long haul, and its use of an extensive partner network for most of its sales. Of course, the company's original decision to focus on PC software, rather than hardware, also was central to its early success.

Some interesting stuff in there. But here's the question: In another 30 years (or another decade, for that matter) will people be drawing these kinds of lessons from Google or Microsoft? Or from some other company entirely?