While some analyst are happy about the revenue increase from Microsoft others are not. Those analysts believe competition from other operating systems like Linux are to blame. Has Linux finally matured enough to noticeably take away money from Microsoft, or has Microsoft not been pushing hard enough to maintain its lead?
When Microsoft announced earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter on July 22, the after-hours markets sent its stock down by 5% (see BW Online, 7/23/04, "Microsoft: Hot Results, Cool Outlook "). Investors clearly had already finished celebrating the Colossus of Redmond's bold announcement two days earlier that it would issue a $3-per-share one-time dividend, part of a total $75 billion stock-buyback and dividend plan over the coming four years.
Why is the stock being punished? Because the market sees something different from the upbeat picture CEO Steve Ballmer painted on the day of the dividend announcement. It recognizes that Microsoft faces increasing competition in both PC operating systems and in desktop applications, the software giant's key product areas. And it's watching Microsoft's difficulties repeating in new global markets the dominance it has gained in America.
News source: BusinessWeek Online
When Microsoft announced earnings for its fiscal fourth quarter on July 22, the after-hours markets sent its stock down by 5% (see BW Online, 7/23/04, "Microsoft: Hot Results, Cool Outlook "). Investors clearly had already finished celebrating the Colossus of Redmond's bold announcement two days earlier that it would issue a $3-per-share one-time dividend, part of a total $75 billion stock-buyback and dividend plan over the coming four years.
Why is the stock being punished? Because the market sees something different from the upbeat picture CEO Steve Ballmer painted on the day of the dividend announcement. It recognizes that Microsoft faces increasing competition in both PC operating systems and in desktop applications, the software giant's key product areas. And it's watching Microsoft's difficulties repeating in new global markets the dominance it has gained in America.
News source: BusinessWeek Online
What's New
- Fixed Classic Shell settings for Windows 2000.
- Some minor bugs fixed.
- Made some cosmetic changes.
That's fine.
As for the earlier post regarding "ease of use", there are distros like Linspire, Xandros, Linare, and Lycoris. There are distros that are easy to use for someone who doesn't like the command line.
joe schmoe users don't want to be treated like the idiots we all know they are, and unfortuantely there's a whole lot more noob bashing in the linux 'scene' than with the other two OS', mac os / windows.
imho this time before longhorn arrives is linux's biggest chance to play catch up on microsoft, lets hope it's not wasted.
joe schmoe users don't want to be treated like the idiots we all know they are, and unfortuantely there's a whole lot more noob bashing in the linux 'scene' than with the other two OS', mac os / windows.
imho this time before longhorn arrives is linux's biggest chance to play catch up on microsoft, lets hope it's not wasted.
all that is true regarding linux for the desktop, but linux servers are serious, mature competition for microsoft.
Hmm, not according to the news I read.
According to those, the MS stock took a little dive shortly after because, even if Microsoft had done well recently, their estimates for the coming fiscal quarter was lowered compared to earlier estimates. That alone is enough to make many people nervous. Of course, because of this, you can say "the market sees something different from the upbeat picture", but the real news here is that MSFT lowered their estimations, the other thing just a reaction.
I say MS, go for it.
I mean, that way they can have a presence in the Open Source scene, and as it continues to grow bigger, they'll still get some of that market share. People would still be able to decide if they wanted MS Office or an OSS alternative, like Open Office. Also, if Linux grows strongest initially in the Corporate environment, a MS Office for linux would provide easier interpolability with Windows machines.
Theres things in linux that should be easy to do, like installing new hardware, or removing a service/application without the need for extensive searching. some distros make some things easier over others, but it's not as mindlessly easy to do as it is in windows, and that simple fact saves time, which (sorry for the cliche) in the business world time is money.
But its definitely improving over what was offered not even 2 years ago, its development curve certainly appears to be exceeding Microsofts IMHO.
MS Office on linux would also be a good idea, as it would allow better interoperability with a mixed linux/windows environment as well as better intergration with a lot of the applications out there that rely upon the MS Office package.
I'm looking forward to what linux will be offering in 3 to 5 years.
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