- Related Stories
-
Ballmer: We are 'hell-bent' on succeeding in ads
July 26, 2007 -
Kevin Turner: No longer the new guy
July 16, 2007 -
Microsoft's 'Cloud OS' takes shape
July 12, 2007 -
Microsoft sings 'O Canada' amid immigration challenges
July 5, 2007 -
Wooing interns to Silicon Valley
July 3, 2007 -
Microsoft's lessons from the desktop
June 27, 2007 -
Yahoo blows its big chance
June 18, 2007 -
Gates to Harvard grads: Pay it forward
June 7, 2007 -
Gates reveals where 'Milan' is headed
May 31, 2007
Still intensely involved, Microsoft chairman predicts company will maintain its share of market for PC and mobile software.
The New York Times
The story "Gates plans his leave amid great change" published July 30, 2007 at 6:04 AM is no longer available on CNET News.
Content from The New York Times expires after 7 days.
Gates is NOT the worlds richest man anymore because he gave billions away (and continues to do so) to a foundaion to make the world a better place, starting of with "little" things like getting rid of malaria., AIDS, etc.
So let's turn it around. How many Microsoft products, other than Windows and Office, are profit making products?
Search and Zune apparently don't make any money and the XBox is a black hole that continues to suck up shareholder profits, so what else does MS do that is profitable?
SQL Server? VS? Exchange? Hardware? All their "other" productivity apps? (Publisher, etc.)
You really couldn't come up with any of those on your own? You think Zune is some significant portion of MS' portfolio? Zune+Xbox is tiny drop in MS' revenue bucket.
Dynamics? Great Plains? Expression? CRM? Analsys Services? Groove? BizTalk?
That's just a list of some of the biggies. SQL, Exchange, VS are HUGE moneymakers, at least in the world I live in.
Someone else continue the list, I know it just keeps going.
But I loved the comment.
five years he's been running that zoo, yet he wonders why MSFT
stock prices remain flat.
Well, here's a clue, Steve: While you only managed 200% in five
years (a figure which is dubious at best), companies like RedHat,
Oracle, and etc. have managed growth rates of 400%, 500%, and
beyond. More importantly, they have sustained growth rates that
easily triple and quadruple the sluggish growth that MSFT has
managed... [i]in spite of the dot-bust![/i]
Second reason: MSFT has exactly two somewhat profitable
divisions: OSes and the "Services Division" (e.g. software).
Meanwhile, it is sinking money into Zune (failed), X-Box (selling
well but mostly at a loss), MSN (*chuckle*), and a whole host of
money-sucking ventures.
Third reason: Aside from the lukewarm successes of Office
2007, new products are faltering. MSFT has resorted to
accounting shifts to prop up Vista's sales in the eyes of
investors, while Apple is posting very nice growth rates and
astounding profits.
It can be boiled down to this: When everyone else is pulling in
kick-arse ROI while MSFT is only managing to barely chug along
by comparison (especially in light of a previously explosive
growth curve), you know something's wrong.
Meanwhile, We have management (or rather, mis-management).
Gates once had the company wired tight. He used to be tuned
in, and knew what he was doing (witness MSFT's growth in spite
of a fundamentally flawed operating system, a whole host of
errors and flaws, a massive anti-trust lawsuit, etc etc).
But now, MSFT can't erase the fact that Gates is out-of-the-loop,
and board member types are plainly saying as much. Ballmer,
meanwhile, has managed to make the giant stumble... numerous
times.
Last year was the top-of-the-curve for MSFT, and investors see
that.
Barring any miracles, it's all downhill for MSFT from here, and
they're starting to pick up momentum. When will the crash hit?
Not anytime real soon, but it can be seen in the distance...
/P
"while you only managed 200% in five years..."
...
...
double means 100% go back school.
microsoft is very large. those other companies are rather small. 100% of microsoft would be like 500@ of "companies like RedHat, Oracle, etc. ...."
sometimes i think that we as a people are really funny when on the internet.
its like you're blindly picking problems ad exxagerate them to show how much you hate microsoft.
Lemme guess, you own an iMac.
but you're probably right about the downhill part. i don't think it will crash, but will be a part of the market of the size of maybe apple. tis whole thing could reers you know, with apple being the new microsoft and microsft taking the place that apple once held, the 5 percent of the market who also 70% rich.
"... /P"
People often underestimate the amount of development it takes to make an "Operating System." Also, to make that OS compatible with millions of hardware, hundreds of thousands of programs, and user-friendly.
About being a "monopoly" and "controlling the desktop market," why is Apple's OS and the iMac still closed-source? Why is Apple still selling proprietary systems and software? Why can't other hardware manufacturers make Apple iMacs? How come I can't install Apple's OS on my computer?
I have to pay Apple $3000 for a slow, overpriced, under-performing piece of junk that can only run 5% of the software on the market.
Can't you see the irony in saying that someone who makes a claim needs to document it, yet somehow you think your counter-claim needs none?
They are simply continuing there 'me too' mentality that brought us Vista and Zune. Microsoft or any company will never gain prominence if the best they can do is follow far behin the leader, copying feature and never really understanding how they interoperate with everything else.
The only successes MS has had is when they can leverage their monopoly position. They no longer can do much of that, and certainly can't in the web services arena.
Unless they change from the top down, they will be yet another also ran in this arena, at best. Gates leaving is a step in the right direction, but nothing will change for the better until Ballmer and his followers are jettisoned.
Operating Income / (Loss) in millions
Client $11,603
Server and Tools 3,900
Online Services Business (732)
Microsoft Business Division 10,838
Entertainment and Devices Division (1,892)
Client division 11.6B profit (i.e. xp and vista)
Server and Tools 3.9B profit (server, sql server, exchange)
Microsoft Business Division 10.8B profit (office, dynamics, etc)
From the 8-K "Our revenue growth was driven primarily by licensing of the 2007 Microsoft
Office system and Windows Vista, increased revenue associated with SQL Server,
Windows Server, and Visual Studio, and increased Xbox 360 console sales.
Foreign currency exchange rates did not have a significant impact on
consolidated revenue during the year. "
Clearly the client division and office divisions are the most profitable. However, the server division comprising sql, exchange, etc was 3.9B in total profit...not just revenue. By any benchmark, that is a profitable division. As expected, the entertainment and online divisions were negative. But they aren't quite the drain everyone on this forum likes to imply.
Now that I have done the research for you, are you satisfied? Want more fact to disprove your opinions?
- Gates is getting out before the major butt whipping
-
by t8
August 1, 2007 8:23 PM PDT
- If he gets out now, it will look better for him.
-
Reply to this comment
-
See all 66 Comments >>If he leaves it too late, then he will be the one taking the butt whipping from the likes of Google and Apple.
Gates 1 trick pony was Windows and couple with breaking anti-trust law he dominated software.
But the Internet Age will not be so kind to him. He cannot control the Internet and hence the democratic nature of the Internet Platform means that he cannot abuse consumers and competitors in the same way he did on the Windows platform.