Microsoft Breaks the $50 Billion Mark

internetnews.com ^ | July 19, 2007 | By Stuart J. Johnston

[Duke Nukum]

I wonder who bought the Zune?

[jdm]

ping

[SkyDancer]

Right - and they charge me $125 for MSWord2007 student ... and I can’t get my system to go back to MS200Word .... I converted but now it won’t let me go back unless I now upgrade ....!!!!

[rlmorel]

[jdm]

I wonder who bought the Zune?

No one I know, anyway. Probably a bad [like, really, really bad] investment on their part.

[rlmorel]

This is the Zune setup screen...I thought it was kind of a funny image to have there, almost like...Do you feel like this?

[DesScorp]

“I wonder who bought the Zune?”

Don’t laugh. Look at Microsoft’s history. When they want dominance in a market, they’re very very patient. NT 3.51 was slaughtered by Netware, but NT 4 led to domination that MS has never relinquished. Internet Explorer 1 and 2 were jokes, largely ignored. But by IE 3, MS was a threat in the browser market. By IE 5, they dominated it utterly. MS SQL server, once a joke in corporate IT departments, now dominates small and midsized businesses, and is now encroaching on Oracle’s territory. Wordperfect was once the standard, when Word was an also-ran. And Exchange server utterly dominates corporate email departments.

What Micrsoft wants, Microsoft gets. And they’re both flush with cash, and patient enough to make it happen.

MS has already taken the first step in paving the way for Zune’s dominance. Windows Media is now the dominant delivery codec for streaming audio and video on the web (except for movie trailers, where Quicktime still dominates).

Microsoft is a superpower financially, but fights like a third world insurgent in emerging markets (or markets that it does not yet dominate, like MP3 players).

This is not admiration on my part, simply a statement of facts. I use a wide variety of operating systems, and my favorite is Apple’s OS X. After I bought a Mac, I decided that I wouldn’t be buying Vista for my own personal use.

[TopQuark]

Exxon made $40B and look at all the talk of imposing a special tax on big oils. Tells you how principled our leaders are and how hungry is the public for a kill. Microsoft makes $50B -— and not a word!

[TopQuark]

What an excellent, and 100% accurate, history review! Thank you.

I would only add that money does not make companies --- it's talent. The dominance is acquired because there are many talented people at MS, and those people are given freedom to act. All of those victories were fought for and attained on merit. (This does now apply to the earliest history, when Gates famously told IBM that MS is not interested in operating systems, and IBM should talk to DRI instead.)

[infidel29]

For the year, which ended January 30, the company brought in $51.12 billion, up 15 percent from last year's $44.28 billion. For the fiscal fourth quarter, Microsoft chalked up $13.37 billion, a 13 percent jump from last fiscal year's fourth quarter revenues of $11.8 billion.

As to the bottom line, Microsoft brought in a whopping $14.07 billion in reported net income for the year, an 18 percent boost from last year's $12.6 billion.

Where is congress? We need to investigate Microsoft for these obscene profits. I smell price gouging.

[TopQuark]

We think alike; see #9.

[Revolting cat!]

Microsoft makes $50B -— and not a word!

Good catch, I'll call my congresscritter right now!

[infidel29]

Great minds and all that

[Paladin2]

M$ is not gouging the public. ;-)

[microgood]

Exxon made $40B and look at all the talk of imposing a special tax on big oils. Tells you how principled our leaders are and how hungry is the public for a kill. Microsoft makes $50B -— and not a word!

Exxon made $40B in profits, Microsoft made $50B in gross revenue.

[Democrat_media]

Exxon only made close to 10% profit on sales.

The government has no right to take the profits of private companies no matter what spin the liberal media throws out there to make companies look bad. Companies don't have to stay in the U.S..

Capitalism and these private companies are what is driving the economy, technology and raising living standards. The media has everyone out ready to lynch these private companies .

It really keeps amazing me that the liberal media has brainwashed even those on a Conservative site. Hope some of you are using sarcasm. Still I 've seen too many even on this site say anti-capitalist statements.

[TyroneSlothrop]

Revenue and Profit are not the same thing, not even close. My goodness, this is a capitalist society. Everyone MUST understand this difference.

[Duke Nukum]

I understand what you are saying, it just seems like MS has done nothing but misstep lately though. First the Zune and then the Vista debacle and now there is something about every X-Box 360 having a flaw.

Oh, and then there’s that patent they did for a new way to target ads by sniffing around people’s hard drives.

There was a time when IBM looked like the indestructible giant too. I wouldn’t say MS can’t recover but it seems everywhere MS steps lately is a big, deep cow pie welcoming their foot. Which, I guess if their foot was severely frost bitten that might be a good thing, but it’s the middle of July.

I just bought a Creative Zen. It’s kind of a nifty little device and it’s not an over-priced Apple and it’s not a big, bulky, over-priced Zune either, so it’s got those two things going for it.

[Revolting cat!]

Kidding. Yes, even here, envy of success is present.