Bill Gates turns 50 next year. (So do I, but let's not get into that.)

In many ways both Gates and Microsoft seem to be heading into middle age. And that's not good for anyone.

• If the only way for Microsoft to gain earnings momentum is to cut costs, what does that say about future opportunities?
  
• Is Microsoft in the business of unleashing creativity, as it claims, or is it in the business of stifling it through IP rights, as Gates said in Asia this week?
  
• If Microsoft can't find a better strategy, what does that say for the rest of us?
  
• Will Microsoft's new strategy of growing through lawyers instead of engineers slow down the entire U.S. economy?
  
• Will Mr. Bill ever lose that 20-year old geek look, drop some weight, ditch the glasses, and come out fighting? Or is he over?