I didn't bother with CNN's view, so I don't know their take. I have my own view of MS.
I didn't like Ballmer's hand on the company 10 years ago. Heck, I didn't like Ballmer 20 years ago. And I don't like the situation today. What has happened these years has been a kinda slow confirmation of my misgivings. IMO, MS have done a number of strategic and company-culture mis-steps.
What kinda worsens the situation is that it's the top echelon inside MS which together have worked towards this, since Gates left. So that does cloud the hopes for a change with a new CEO. At least Alchin (headed Vista, among other things) is gone. Good riddance! And his strategy, of trying to corrupt any standard not proprietary to MS, seem to have abated. But his scheme of splitting Windows into a myriad of different licences and options remain in effect. Then we have the enemy/hostility-generating conspiracies against Java and Linux. MS making themselves into computings analogy to the Talibans in Afganistan (pre- US intervention): Their hold may seem stable and strong enough, but in reality everybody wants to get rid of them, and once there is a credible challenge, all "allies" will be in a hurry to jump ship.
What is kinda pathetic, is that MS have adopted old, losing strategies and business practices from those big-business computer companies they (and Apple) once vanquished with superior understanding about personal computing. They have fallen into the same trap as Sculley's old Apple fell into, (once they had gotten rid of Jobs), thinking that they only have to milk their market (desktop publishing for Apple) with "creative" business schemes, and manipulate perceived stock value with dividends and reported high profits. For a time things may seem very rosy, but underneath the entire foundation is crumbling. Old, traditional corporative business practices and management do not cope well with IT. Gates and Jobs once demonstrated that. After traditional business (the investment capitalists) kicked out Jobs and ruined Apple, Jobs have now retaken his company with a vengeance. Meanwhile, MS have lost both Gates and his vision.
Yes, MS is indeed failing consumers. Ballmer have always been uninterested, and also seem to think half-assed, half-finished efforts are good enough for the stupid consumer as long as you just advertize. He also seem to have long belived it's enough to do what competitors do and in other ways stay where you are.
What I mostly blame MS for, is not failure to bring out phones or tablets. No, it's their failure to build and reinforce the PC's role, value and importance for the consumer.
Windows' position as a laptop and desktop OS is of course very secure today. MS problem here is that the laptop's and desktop's positions as relevant gadgets is very undermined. And, - while it was very predictable that this was an avenue open for attck, and one Jobs would take to complete his revenge, after retaking his own company, - it didn't need to be like that! If you think a little about it, the very opposite could have been the natural development. Why is the PC's position as the one, only, natural center for all media, information and entertainment challenged by numerous gadgets today? MS have failed to protect this role with aggressive technology and standards.
What they have done wrong (for just one example to keep this post short) is that they have allowed the XBox to compete internally with the PC, and then, artificially favored the XBox on the inside of the company. Launching the console business was totally the right move, as in putting up resistance against Sony on the consumer market. Letting it destroy (and actively push it by policy) the PC gaming industry, will in the long run be disastrous for MS. A company might as well compete with itself, (because someone else will in any case) but what mustn't be done is fixing the "competition" from the inside by biased policy and funding.
There are things MS should have done which they haven't, (just one example to keep this post short) like providing game copyright protection inside the OS. This is where it belongs, and where MS is in a perfect position to make it work. I mean, - Why the H* do we get an experience like Securom instead?
The best thing Windows ever got for the consumer side is Direct-X. So when did it become a smart move to force their own hold on consumer market away from Windows to XBox? The day Windows relevans disappears for consumers, is the day it will begin to disappear from business as well. Computing tiers are always conquered from the bottom. And a console's market share is worth nothing in the long run.