Microsoft Announces Loss

[#1]

Just heard this on the BBC Breakfast news.

[#2]

In this mornings paper:-
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/mediatechnologyandtelecoms/9413663/Microsoft-reports...

[#3]

Shame 
They are also looking at a massive fine from the EU over the default browser fiasco - they somehow "forgot" to add it for 18 months.

[#4]

Everyone's so quick to knock MS but where would we all be without them.

[#5]

Probably in a better place without the Fear, Uncertainty & Doom and Embrace, Extend, Extinguish tactics they've used over the years. 
However, short of being able to switch to an alternative dimension where that was the case,  the issue is moot. 

[#6]

Quote from: artmo

but where would we all be without them.

Oh you mean the same Microsoft founded in 1975 which claimed the patent on the FAT file system?  It was in fact developed by the Computer Terminal Corporation (Datapoint) and released three years previously. Microsoft are not real innovators just a large marketing company which develops its own software to operate its business. Some of the software is released for sale to the public.
Microsoft largely ignored the Internet for a long time until 26th May1995 when Bill Gates sent a memo to his executives pointing out their failures and saying that their products must encompass the use of the Internet.

[#7]

Quote from: artmo

Everyone's so quick to knock MS but where would we all be without them.

We don't agree on much artmo but you are correct, without them we wouldn't be where we are today. Sure as Alaric says they are basically marketing other peoples innovations but without them, we'd never have access to those innovations. In many ways MS have changed the world for the better. Sure, they're far from being perfect (even the once loved google is now disputed by many) but they've still done a lot for us.
Unfortunately, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. While I can think of a few draconian british companies I'd like to see go down the pan, MS is certainly not one of them.
To all those who keep knocking M$, I'd like to see you do better 

[#8]

The loss they have reported is a quarterly loss.  You'd think it was a full year figure the way it's being reported.  It is also caused by an adjustment reflecting a weak online ad business.

[#9]

Quote from: Hairy

Shame  They are also looking at a massive fine from the EU over the default browser fiasco - they somehow "forgot" to add it for 18 months.

Don't talk to me about that - reinstalled W7 a couple of weeks back and I'd completely forgotten about it.  Was somewhat annoyed when it popped up.

[#10]

Quote from: Sprite

Without them we wouldn't be where we are today. Sure as Alaric says they are basically marketing other peoples innovations but without them, we'd never have access to those innovations. In many ways MS have changed the world for the better. Sure, they're far from being perfect (even the once loved google is now disputed by many) but they've still done a lot for us.

Without them,  we may have been in a much better place,  but we'll never know.
Microsoft have been very good at taking other peoples inventions and making use of them,  they have been equally good (if not more so) at taking other peoples innovations and burying them.  Microsoft had built (through no fault of their own) a virtual monopoly of the PC desktop,  unfortunately,  they also tried every trick in the book both legal and illegal to protect that monopoly.

Quote

On April 3, 2000, Judge Jackson issued his findings of fact that Microsoft had abused its monopoly position by attempting to "dissuade Netscape from developing Navigator as a platform", that it "withheld crucial technical information", and attempted to reduce Navigator's usage share by "giving Internet Explorer away and rewarding firms that helped build its usage share" and "excluding Navigator from important distribution channels"

Also,  while Microsoft have done some good things (or bought someone else that had),  it's a bit naïve to assume that they wouldn't have happened without them.