Is Microsoft Becoming the Do-Over Company?

At first glance, it looked like the big thing Microsoft revealed to its developers in San Francisco is week was Windows 8.1, the first major update to Windows 8

The real new product on display, however, was humility.

Through some of the changes in Windows 8.1 and other course corrections it's made recently, Microsoft is becoming notorious for retreating on key decisions. What does that mean for the company and its vision of the future? And what does that mean for its millions of customers?

The Windows 8.1 update has many new features, but those reversals were the things that stood out, including the return of the and a option that lets users bypass the busy, touch-friendly Start screen and go right into traditional Windows. Both garnered applause from the audience when CEO Steve Ballmer mentioned them in his keynote at Build 2013, even though they'd been announced weeks before.