“Much of what Microsoft has done over the past year or so might suggest a company settling into middle age. It has overhauled its management structure, tightened its financial controls, expanded its financial reporting, started paying dividends and abandoned the high-tech currency of stock options in favor of risk-free grants of shares to employees. “ Read the story at SFGate.
Microsoft says it’s ready for what’s next
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Eugenia Loli
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WOW – what an article. can someone give me a quick break down as to what it was about ? I kept falling asleep while I tried to read it. I might be tired or it might have been the writers style, but I had a hard time staying awake
Pretty much just advertising hype.
It was amusing how they made the paying dividend decision seem like a Microsoft induced idea – in reality they were avoiding a tax evasion investigation through stock options.
The rest of the article was basically rehashed fluff by a junior reporter..
Pretty much just advertising hype.
Using business jargon all over doesn’t really sound like advertisement to me. In addition to the fact it highlights how it is leaning up and redoing its management structure – that does not look good to the business community because it means the company is either in loss or going to be.
It was amusing how they made the paying dividend decision seem like a Microsoft induced idea – in reality they were avoiding a tax evasion investigation through stock options.
Funny, from reading that article, I didn’t get that impresion.
with all that money you would think they could invest it in actually making a stable & secure OS & apps…
naw, it would interfear with all those rich M$FT execs bank accounts, so they keep producing the crappy Kludgeware…
they are investing it that way, it is called windows XP 2008, AKA longhorn.
They are doing just that. They are rewriting major parts of Windows in C# and managed C++. Managed languages are not a panacea, but since they can not have buffer overruns and similar security exploits they are much, much safer than anything written in unmanaged languages.
But rewriting a huge codebase like WinXP takes some time. Windows 2003 server shows the direction which they are taking.
Linux is still competitive, but I would not write MS off either.
“The shift from stock options to stock grants for all employees -”
I liked that part, I mean if I was a microsoft employee, I would now get stock in the company for free instead of having to buy it. That should keep staff turn around down.
“Only Microsoft, Gates says, has the skills, money and focus to put all the software pieces together ”
Is mr gates so surrounded by “yes men” that he has never studied the open software community. They do not need money to develop, they do it as a hobby. They certainly have all the skills needed, and there is no-one more focused than them in any commercial corporation.
“The changes in management structure, compensation, financial reporting, and the effort to improve relations with customers and partners have been mainly his handiwork. In the past year, the company has been reorganized into seven business groups – – the Windows desktop operating system; the Office suite; server software; business software for small companies; software for handheld computers and cell phones; video games; and MSN, the Internet service”
And I thought Microsoft were split up because of some court decision or other….
the stock option program was changed because they have no more an up stock but a neutral one that seem to want to go down more and more.
The only reason the stock is not going down is because lot of clueless investor are impressed by the divident and buy it (and that is stupid for such an overpriced stock with no more climbing possible) and because LOT of US pension fund own them and don’t want to trigger a sell cascade effect.
Us hippies perhaps called too many good people pigs in the old days, but MS is comprised of a bunch of them, Gates the king Pig.
The stock market has been gradually exposed–thos never to the extent it should be–to be the gargantuan Ponzi scheme that it is, always was and will be. The one justification for a company to sell stock to people is dividends. Otherwise the stock market is pure gambling, and the concept of “investing”–say in “growth” stocks, is hogwash.
MS is getting on the bandwagon. If not for the mammoth scandals of Worldcom and Enron, MS still would be sleazing along like most of the other “hi tech” companies–executives, or insiders, handing off their shares to some small-time sucker out there in internet land.
It’s better to err in favor of cynicism when it comes to these pigs.
<The stock market has been gradually exposed–thos never to the extent it should be–to be the gargantuan Ponzi scheme that it is, always was and will be. The one justification for a company to sell stock to people is dividends. Otherwise the stock market is pure gambling, and the concept of “investing”–say in “growth” stocks, is hogwash.>
I have an MBA in Finance that says otherwise. It’s not a PONIZI scheme-it is a way for companies to get capital.
You have a key compenent of the market backwards! The key reason for companies to sell stock is to get capital for new ventures or ongoing operations without going to the bank and taking on additional debt. The dividends are an incentive to stockholders to buy and hold, and get the income from their shares, rather than momentum trading/speculation.
The fact is, if you invest in growth stock indexes, say the S&P over the long haul, you are better off monetarily than if you put the money somewhere else, say in a savings account or bonds.
But, if you speculate, then you do run the risk of losing everything, just like at the tables at Las Vegas. But if you want that sort of returns, then go for it.
The market, however imperfect it is, works. Period.
Microsoft is simply acknowledging that they are no longer a growth stock, but have become like Boeing-part of the blue chips.
They are doing just that. They are rewriting major parts of Windows in C# and managed C++. Managed languages are not a panacea, but since they can not have buffer overruns and similar security exploits they are much, much safer than anything written in unmanaged languages.
1. There is no proof of your claim that Microsoft is rewriting parts into C#.
2. As for the buffer overflows, it can only be prevented for C# apps if the implementation of the framework is good.
3. “Unmanaged languages” doesn’t cause security problems.
But rewriting a huge codebase like WinXP takes some time. Windows 2003 server shows the direction which they are taking.
I may not know what’s going on in Microsoft, but I can assure you there is no rewrite of Windows. Microsoft may drastically change Windows, they may replace certain components, but not a full rewrite. Not at least within the next decade.
And to Cheapskate, having freaking amount of money doesn’t mean Microsoft could easily rewrite and replace as OS and make the new one a success. Ask yourself “Why do people buy Windows?” Mainly, applications. Now, most of Microsoft security and stability problems comes from extending backward compatibility as far as they can.
Just say they rewrite Windows, and lets call the new rewrite Extra New Technology, ENT. Would people buy ENT? Well, not many unless it runs Windows apps. How do it run Windows apps? By adding a layer of DOS/Win16/32 filth on top. And bang – there we are back at square one.
“I have an MBA in Finance that says otherwise…The market, however imperfect it is, works. Period.”
I’m calling bullshit on that one – Hey MBA guy, care to tell me how the USA is supposed to pay off its $6 Trillion dollar national debt (which is growing at compound-interest rate levels) to the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank? This should be good.
All economic systems founded on usury-based central banking systems must inevitably collapse in a state of insoluble debt. Period.
If the USA thinks that a free market is such a great idea, why don’t they actually try it sometime?
http://www.perfecteconomy.com/
>In addition to the fact it highlights how it is
> leaning up and redoing its management structure – that
> does not look good to the business community because it
> means the company is either in loss or going to be.
I disagree. They are restructuring while they are on top, because if they wait untill the company is in loss, it may be too late.
<I’m calling bullshit on that one – Hey MBA guy, care to tell me how the USA is supposed to pay off its $6 Trillion dollar national debt (which is growing at compound-interest rate levels) to the privately owned Federal Reserve Bank? This should be good.>
It’s not. Pure an simple. Unless the other countries in world want to risk economic collapse by calling in the debt, then they will have to leave the debt outstanding in perpetuitiy. That’s a sad fact, but it’s also a by product of a global economy. Noone said that they had to give us the money.
That’s also part of the free market that people seem to forget.