Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) is putting the final touches on Windows 7, and by all accounts it will be Microsoft's best operating system product in nearly a decade when it's released. But that's not the only cash cow the software giant has -- its Office franchise is hugely profitable as well. Could that piece of its business ever be in jeopardy, though?

The OpenOffice.org full software productivity suite is, in an odd way, Microsoft Office's largest competitor. Largest in that it's unknown in almost every corporate circle I've seen, and significant in that it provides -- for free -- almost everything the costly Microsoft Office does.

Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) is set to release its Q4 and full fiscal year results this Thursday after the market closes, with an expected earnings per share figure of $0.35, which would be an increase over the year-ago quarter $0.31 figure. With the Q4 period being the first full quarter that the Windows Vista operating system has been for sale to all public channels, will Microsoft meet or best analyst estimates?

Stay tuned to BloggingStocks this Thursday after the market closes to find out, as I'll be live-blogging Microsoft's Q4 call right here. Until then, I'm of the belief that analysts will again grill Microsoft brass on its internet strategy -- specifically its AdCenter platform (competitor to Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO)) and how performance there is shaping up. Also, the sparks may fly a little on Microsoft's billion-dollar commitment to extend the warranties on some Xbox 360 game consoles and the possible insider trades that happened right before the bad news broke.

On a lighter note, I'm interested to see how sales of Microsoft's newer Office 2007 productivity software are shaping up, since that is the single largest piece of Microsoft's revenue arsenal outside of the Windows franchise. Is Office 2007 selling, and well? We'll all see soon.

Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) has two main cash cows at this moment: Windows and Office. Together, those two pieces of software (in all their iterations and versions) bring in the lion's share of revenue to the software maker. We're talking about tens of billions per fiscal year. Looking around the globe, there are free alternatives to both of those software franchises, though, which makes one think: why doesn't everyone use the freebies and stop paying for Microsoft's two big products?

The answer is bit complicated, so we'll attack the "Windows" question first. Microsoft licenses out the Windows operating system to almost all computer makers who then install it on the PCs they sell to the public and businesses (and everyone else). No customer probably told Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) or Hewlett-Packard Company (NYSE: HPQ) that they wanted Windows -- there simply is no choice when buying a PC. Recent advances by Dell to make the free Ubuntu Linux operating system available on some PCs has happened, sure. But, the majority of the public just wants what they are used to, which is Windows. People love change, right? Wrong. There are then many (many) versions of Windows for servers and workstations that are sold as well.

Let's turn to Microsoft Office. Again, it brings in a ton of revenue to Redmond, even though there are full office productivity suites that compete with it. My guess is that many of you can't name one though -- and that is what Microsoft counts on, which is branding power. The full-featured OpenOffice productivity suite is pretty darn impressive (I've used it), and it's completely free and interoperable with Microsoft Office (not sure about Office 2007). Why don't more people use it then? Lack of knowing it exists is a possibility, and having to download the suite or order it for about $10 on CD may be obstacles. Plus, you can't find it on Best Buy shelves. If customers start becoming smarter and find out out about OpenOffice or even Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG)'s Google Apps, could a large piece of Microsoft's kingdom come crashing down?

[Disclosure: I own MSFT shares as of 5-29-07]

Windows Vista -- the oft-delayed operating system upgrade from the world's largest software company -- will make it's official debut in the business arena on November 30th. That is the date Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has chosen to release the Windows Vista Business edition of the operating system, according to reports today.

At an event at the NASDAQ stock market on November 30th, Microsoft will officially release the long-awaited first version of the Windows Vista software alongside the Office 2007 productivity suite as well. Both items -- operating systems and office productivity software -- are Microsoft's largest cash cows by far, as the hardware divisions like the xbox 360 have been a huge drag on Microsoft's finances in recent year (but getting better) as the company sprints towards profitability on those platforms to cushion any blow against poor sales of its software products.

However, Microsoft's latest quarter did not show any signs of software slowdown weakness, as the company posted $10.81 billion in revenue and $3.48 billion in net income. Microsoft, though, has to continue to make its operating system and productivity software where customers will continue to buy it, as there are several free versions of competitive software applications which are not mainstream or easily distributable to the masses, but still could pinch Microsoft's fortunes a little. Ok, more than a little -- possibly.

[Disclosure: I own MSFT shares as of 11-2-06]

At Microsoft's Partners Conference this past Thursday in Boston, COO Kevin Turner had some fighting words to say during his closing keynote. As Brian White noted earlier today, Turner had some acerbic comments directed at Google and the topic of Enterprise search.

However beyond Google in Enterprise search, across the board in business applications at the enterprise and Small-to-Medium Business (SMB) level, Microsoft is taking a very aggressive tone as it is facing assault on all sides to two of its core bread-and-butter business lines.

Microsoft is facing rising competition from IBM, Red Hat, and Novell with regards to the software and subsequent support used by SMBs. At the most basic level, it is Linux vs. Windows as IBM, Red Hat, and Novell all produce Linux based Operating System solutions and Linux based Application suites. In past years, Linux had not been a viable alternative as stability, support, and complexity were all issues not fully addressed by vendors. However, as devlopment on the Linux Kernel has continued, the depth of applications and tools available has compounded and made Linux a viable alternative for Enterprise Computing, with Red Hat, Novell, and most notably IBM being the prime vendors for Enterprise Level Linux deployments.

Microsoft wants to turn up the heat on the impending launch of Microsoft Office 2007 -- so it's using the web to offer a preview of the new office suite. See, web-based distribution is quite a bit speedier than physical distribution (or huge preview downloads).

Good going, Microsoft. I can only image the hundreds of megabytes needed just to download the beta and test versions of Office 2007 -- a fully-featured web preview (no downloading) is a perfect fit for this.

Microsoft, whose last Office edition was Microsoft Office 2003, may be having issues convincing both personal and business users to purchase and use the new Office 2007 suite. Sure, I've seen the previews installed locally and there are some nifty features in Office 2007 -- along with quite an improvement in visual polish.

Just the ease on the eyes of having a well-designed graphical interface makes using an office suite much ore enjoyable. But, along with the new Office 2007 suite is a considerable price tag -- even the least expensive version. With this preview, hopefully Microsoft can give prospective customers a taste (that they won't forget) and the convincing will be quite a lot easier.

[Disclosure: I own MSFT shares as of 6-27-06]

Adobe's behavior with regards to Microsoft's attempt to include the ability to create PDF files out of Microsoft Office documents is, according to the Washington Post, "at best arrogance, at worst price collusion -- a violation of basic antitrust law." First Adobe told the world at large that it should feel free to utilize the company's PDF standard. And then Adobe let a number of other word processors do just that -- including, notably, Microsoft Word's biggest competitor, WordPerfect.

Then Adobe did a mid-stream switcheroo, and told Microsoft that if it wanted to include PDF creation ability in Microsoft Office 2007, the software manufacturer needed to charge separately for the feature. If not? A lawsuit would naturally follow.

Microsoft did the same thing I would have done: pulled PDF support from Office. And the Post's Rob Pegoraro wishes "that the bad old Microsoft would reemerge for this one occasion and tell Adobe to go pound sand," while admitting that many analysts with a sense of history remember that Microsoft has a habit of somehow poisoning standards when it incorporates them into its software packages.