Again hyperbole... you don't know what "orders of magnitude" means. In actual fact, technically, the earnings of both companies are in the SAME order of magnitude: 109 dollars.
Microsoft Corp. today announced revenue of $9.19 billion for the quarter ended September 30, 2004.Apple® today announced financial results for its fiscal 2004 fourth quarter ended September 25, 2004. . . . Revenue for the quarter was $2.35 billion.
Apple, a much smaller company than Microsoft, had earnings about 1/4 of those of its larger rival.
You are not using the word "earnings" correctly. Apple's revenue may be a quarter of Microsoft's. Its earnings, however, are about one twentieth of Microsoft's, because as a hardware manufacturer Apple has tremendous expenses that Microsoft simply doesn't.
For this quarter, analysts project Apple to make $174 million in profit, Microsoft $3.47 billion, making Microsoft's earnings one full order of magnitude greater than Apple's. This is admittedly not "several," but it's still quite significant.