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[News] [Rival] InfoWorld: Microsoft's Latest Admission of Internal Issues

Microsoft patent claims hint at internal issues

,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Corp.'s aim to seek patent royalties from open-source
| distributors and users may be an attempt to use legal threats to
| deflect attention from larger questions surrounding its business, 
| including lack of interest in new versions of core products and
| lackluster profit from new wares.
`----

http://news.yahoo.com/s/infoworld/20070514/tc_infoworld/88493


Related:

Microsoft's Record Quarter: Shareholders Paid for Most of the Upside Surprise

,----[ Quote ]
|    "Said another way, Microsoft achieved record breaking earnings during
|    the Vista launch quarter by taking money out of its assets, not
|    through amazing sales of Vista and Office."
| 
|    Now taking money of its savings account isn't necessarily a big deal.
|    ... However, as a point in contrast, Apple Inc. has been launching a
|    lot of products over the last nine months and has added almost $2
|    billion to its balance sheet and assets in the same period that
|    Microsoft's assets dropped $6 billion.
`----

http://biz.yahoo.com/seekingalpha/070503/34354_id.html?.v=1


Microsoft Refuses to Reveal Current Vista Sales

,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft on Thursday reported a 65 percent jump in third quarter profits, 
| buoyed by sales of its latest operating system, Vista.
| 
| Exactly how many Microsoft has sold, however, is still a mystery. 
| 
| [...]
| 
| Liddell declined to provide exact numbers on how many units of Vista
| the company had sold.
`----
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,1895,2122837,00.asp


Rumor: Is Microsoft cheating their [Xbox 360] sales?

,----[ Quote ]
| All in all, there are some sobering thoughts with very broad implications
| for any company if that were true. That being said, would you buy
| from Microsoft, or any other company for that matter, if they were
| cheating their sales?
`----

http://xbox360.qj.net/Rumor-Is-Microsoft-cheating-their-sales-/pg/49/aid/89595


Uh-Oh, Vista! PC Sales Levels Are Normal

,----[ Quote ]
| "Vista hasn't been a catalyst for PC sales," he said. "Looking at the
| weekly data, there really isn't anything happening with sales that
| has anything to do with Vista."
`----

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/vista/oh_oh_vista_pc_sales_levels_are_normal.html


,----[ Quote ]
| "This is a relic of old-line consumer products companies like Philip
| Morris, or fraudsters like Miniscribe who literally shipped bricks in
| lieu of disk drives to hit sales targets.
| 
| [...]
| 
| Channel stuffing is the business practice where a company or a sales
| force within a company inflates its sales figures by forcing more
| products through a distribution channel than the channel is capable
| of selling to the world at large.
| 
| [...]
| 
| We have a game we play around the office here with Microsoft press
| releases. The game is, "Find the words that make the headline true."
| It's not always easy.
| 
| [...]
| 
| Sony, like Microsoft, announces units shipped, not actually sold.
| This allows both companies to advertise sales numbers based on how
| many units they can force retailers to accept, not on how many units
| customers actually buy; both have considerable market power to push
| excess unsold inventory into the channel."
`----

http://www.informationarbitrage.com/2007/04/microsoft_phili.html


Microsoft cuts Windows virtualization features

,----[ Quote ]
| The company is changing three key features of the hypervisor
| technology to try to stick to its schedule of releasing the
| technology within 180 days of completing its Windows Server
| "Longhorn" operating system, due to be finalized before the
| end of the year.
`----

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6182852.html


More than half of Microsoft Vista needs re-writing 

,----[ Quote ]
| "Up to 60% of the code in the new consumer version of Microsoft new Vista
| operating system is set to be rewritten..."
`----

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=30516

,----[ Quote ]
| "In the long years since XP was launched, Apple have come out with five
| major upgrades to OS X, upgrades which (dare I say it?) install with about
| as much effort as it takes to brush your teeth in the morning. No nightmare
| calls to tech-support, no sudden hardware incompatibilities, no hassle. Why
| hasn't Microsoft kept up? Unmaintainable"
| 
| "Right now, Microsoft has nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide. After all 
| the hype surrounding Vista, the Emperor has finally been revealed in all 
| his naked glory. Some folks have been predicting the demise of Microsoft. I
| wouldn't go that far, but I am wondering how we?re ever going to take
| Microsoft seriously again?"
`----

http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2007/04/29/vista_end_dream/


A history of Microsoft Windows - the inside story exposed 

,----[ Quote ]
| 2004: (...)
| THE MANAGEMENT: "What do you mean it still doesn't work? Try
| harder!"
| 
| 2005: (...)
| "MAKE IT WORK! FOR GOD'S SAKE, MAKE IT WORK! Well, throw it away
| and use the server version then, that seems all right. Look, they
| won't know the difference, drop the database stuff, nobody remembers
| what we said in 1995 now! That was ten years ago! "Apple has what?
| 3D acceleration? So, we have DirectX. What, in the desktop? Really?
| What, even Stallman's beardie-weirdies have it? Oh hell. Right, you
| lot, make it look like this!"
| 
| 2006: Windows Vista
| THE MANAGEMENT: "Look, if we trickle it out to those mugs, I mean,
| valued customers who've already paid, we can say we released it this
| year and it'll buy us some more time..."
| 
| 2007: No, really Windows Vista, honest
| MARKETING DEPT: "Never mind the features, look at it! Isn't it shiny?
| Yes! Pretty!" 
`----

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37962


Microsoft admits Vista screwed - report 

,----[ Quote ]
| Vista SP1 is code named "Fiji", presumably after a pretty looking
| island which is paralysed by coups.
| 
| In a statement regarding the service pack Microsoft admits that
| Vista has "high impact" problems.
`----

http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=37125


MS Insider: The Office Crew Isn't Smart Enough to Supplant Real Windows
Developers

,----[ Quote ]
| "With Alchin retiring, MarkL and MarkZ, two of the most talented
| architects in MS already having left, the picture gets really
| ugly for the Windows division," my friend claimed, and the BV's
| core team members, Ian McDonald, Jack Mayo, Todd Wanke, Clyde
| Rodriguez and others are starting to connect the dots.
| 
| [...]
| 
| He concluded ominously. "A trainwreck of biblical proportions looms.
| Pick a good seat on the sidelines, trainwrecks this large take
| awhile to complete. Vista may be the last MS OS for some time to
| come, especially if Cutler decides to play hardball."
`----

http://www.emailbattles.com/2006/09/11/ms-insider-the-office-crew-isnt-smart-enough-to-supplant-real-windows-developers/
http://tinyurl.com/35eqrt


Software Notebook: Microsoft's cash pile isn't what it used to be

,----[ Quote ]
| But Microsoft has taken a series of steps to reduce its cash
| balance. Specifically, by Microsoft's count, the company has
| paid out nearly $100 billion through dividends and repurchasing
| its own stock in the past five years.
`----

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/309852_software02.html


Loot: Redmond, We Have a Problem, Or, What's Wrong With the Xbox 360

,----[ Quote ]
| At this point, Former becomes impassioned. That's not fair, he says;
| we always saw this as a long-term venture. To which we reply that we
| were talking about the original Xbox, and while other divisions of
| the company throw off more profits in a single quarter than the
| entire $5 billion or so lost in the home and entertainment division
|        ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| to date, the fact remains that, as we take-our-word-for-it predicted,
| the Xbox group has been spectacularly unprofitable for Microsoft.
| Hence, our heretofore unpublished Vietnam analogy. The rest of the
| night is a blur, but we digress.
| 
| [...]
| 
| The worst case scenario for Microsoft, then, is one in which the Xbox
| 360's bid for the mass market is blocked by the Wii for the next two to
| three years, at which point the aging and underpowered Wii gives way
| to a cheaper-than-it-is-now PS3 with a selection of AAA titles that's
| far wider than what the PS3 has at the moment; new installments of
| Playstation's own popular and casual-leaning games; and a slew of
| new franchises from Sony's much-larger studio operation.
`----

http://ncroal.talk.newsweek.com/default.asp?item=533168


The Secret Failures of Microsoft

,----[ Quote ]
| There is no choice involved; even most Linux users are forced to pay for a
| Microsoft license in order to obtain a brand name PC.
|
| [...]
|
| They are bound to an oath to swear allegiance to Windows XP Professional,
| and must never mention Linux and Windows in the same breath. If they step
| out of line in any way, Microsoft dramatically raises their OEM licensing
| fees and sends them to indoctrination camp, where they face chairs being
| hurled at them by angry monkeys.
|
| [...]
|
| Why do Windows enthusiasts exibit much hostility to an obvious fact?
| Because if they admit that 80% of the company's revenues come entirely
| from an OEM tax, and not from any choice on the part of consumers...
|
| [...]
|
| Microsoft's decade of investments in WinCE and Windows Mobile
| Smartphones have only barely matched the market share of Palm, which
| itself is a run down company out of ideas. Microsoft couldn't
| out-maneuver the incompetent Palm within a decade of trying; now both
| are ineffectually fighting over the dying PDA industry while Linux and
| Symbian slaughter them in the smartphone arena:
|  
| Symbian 75%; Linux 14%; Microsoft 5%; Palm 5%.
|
| [...]
|
| (many more failures listed)
`----

http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/Q4.06/2E6D9BB2-FE1B-4556-8389-67BD581FBCCC.html


How Much is Too Much?

,----[ Summary ]
| Microsoft says it will stick with Xbox. But with years of heavy losses
| behind it, the pressure's on for the gaming division to make good
`----

http://www.businessweek.com/innovate/content/oct2006/id20061013_283856.htm?campaign_id=rss_topStories
http://tinyurl.com/yxdr4j


Microsoft stoic despite massive losses

,----[ Quote ]
| If you were to judge by the PR rhetoric, you'd think the 360 was
| an unstoppable commercial juggernaut. As usual though, PR lies.
`----

http://www.gamerscan.com/articles/06/10/09/microsofts.massive.losses/


Microsoft Hides Its Mobile and Business Apps Divisions

,----[ Quote ]
| The company is folding its two worst-performing divisions -- Microsoft
| Business Solutions (its business applications unit) and its Mobile and
| Embedded units -- into the Microsoft Business Division and Microsoft Home
| and Entertainment units, respectively.
`---- 

http://www.microsoft-watch.com/article2/0,1995,1990243,00.asp?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535


A Dozen Stocks For '07

,----[ Quote ]
| Millen also thinks $36 billion in planned share buybacks
| will help the stock.
`----

http://www.forbes.com/2006/12/05/stocks-markets-investing-pf-ii-cz_ag_1205stockpicks.html?partner=yahootix
http://tinyurl.com/yjzfbo


Microsoft counts on Vista to recharge stagnant stock

,----[ Quote ]
| There was a time in the 1990s when shares of Microsoft stock seemed to
| double every couple of years. 1996: college for the kids. 1998: a place
| on Whidbey. 1999: early retirement.
|
| Times have changed.
`---- 

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2003437957_vista19.html


Commentary: Microsoft needs more than just buybacks to lift its shares

,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft shares, which have been dormant for the last few years,
| have been looking up over the last couple months. The Dow industrials
| component has gained about 20% since hitting a 4-year low of $21.46 o
| June 13.
|
| To help move things along, Microsoft not only launched a $40 billion
| stock repurchase program that lasts through 2011, the company also said
| its previously announced 4-year, $30 billion stock buyback program was
| completed in just 2 years.
`----

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?guid=%7B685EFB89%2D5791%2D4E8B%2DAD6A%2D9688F5B6012A%7D&source=blq%2Fyhoo&dist=yhoo&siteid=yhoo

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