A sign of the bad times for Microsoft. This stock is just like Intel, a former street darling that trades like mad everyday though I'm not really sure why? Folks are just running in place and somehow nobody, and I mean nobody, comes out ahead. You may curse Apple and Google but at least they garner some interest because somebody gets to go into their local tavern and brag that they made a decent trade on them even if it is indeed for only a day.

Gates isn't coming back and the Microsoft faithful are left with Steve Balmer. Even if Steve Jobs never returns to the Apple fold he departs having left the company with a very deep bench and, incredibly, in the midst of a Keynsian depression, record earnings, fabulous products, and cash out the wazoo. Gates'
parting gift was Vista.

The culture at Apple is innovation and like Google it will always attract people that live and breath the "Think Different" ethic. Gates created a company that lived under the cloud of anti-trust violation suspicion for a very long time.

Apple's future? For the present Tim Cook.
Someday soon though a teen that was inspired by one of those "Think Different" posters that managed to work it's way into the guidance office at your local high school will indeed take Steve up on the challenge.

Good luck Steve our prayers are with you.
I mean Balmer.

In regard to Mr. Jobs, he doesn't need luck, if this thing can be beat, he'll do it.

Just "Think Different"

Beltway Greg
Thinking Different since the late 90s.

Largely unnoticed by Wall Street is the reason for the decline of Microsoft and the ascension of the likes of Apple and Google: Free and Open Source Software.

Microsoft's 10-K has been saying for years that the number one risk to shareholders is open source software, typified by Linux. As Microsoft admits, open source software carries an inherent competitive advantage because its costs of development are lower. Further, the open source community has created a process that is fundamentally better at developing software than the old, top-down, proprietary process.

The chickens are coming home to roost. A proprietary software company cannot survive in an environment where enterprise-level, top-quality software is free and its source code is open to everyone. Essentially, the proprietary software business model is in its death throes.

In contrast to Microsoft's inward-focused, monopolistic development engine, Google is almost entirely powered by free and open source software, with a smattering of internal customizations. (One of the biggest benefits of open source software is that users can modify the code to suit their own needs.)

Apple's legendary operating system is almost entirely open source under the hood. The kernel is a proprietary BSD variant, and the user interface skin is a trademark, but the vast majority of the software stack is freely available from other places. Apple's competitive advantage is not the code itself, but the thoughtful way that it configures the system for a seamless user experience.

Meanwhile, Microsoft is at war with its customers. Most of the computing cycles of Vista are wasted on trying to hide the inner workings of the operating system, to limit user choices, and to obfuscate (rather than fix) its fundamentally insecure architecture.

You can't sweep back the ocean with a broom. The warnings that have been in Microsoft's 10-K for several years now are now coming true, and Microsoft management needs to accept the inevitable facts their own lawyers are telling them. Sadly, Gates, Balmer, et al. are blinded by their past successes with the proprietary software model. The best strategy for Microsoft right now would be to replace most of its operating system with Linux and pour its resources into ensuring compatibility between open source systems and the legacy Windows API.

Happy Trails,

Loye Young
Isaac & Young Computer Company
Laredo, Texas
http://start.iycc.net