Editor's note: This is Part 1 of a 5-part series that will be published over the course of this week. Stay tuned! While 2012 may not have been the worst year for Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) it’s becoming more apparent that the company is struggling to maintain relevance lately. Last year saw Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL) and Google (NASDAQ:GOOG) rise to new levels of prominence while Microsoft’s allies fell left and right due to the death of the PC. For now Microsoft is still a cash-rich company but its growth is definitely slowing; if it doesn’t act fast the software maker could soon ...