Microsoft's Income Drops 32%, Its First Decline in 23 Years

[b2bwild]

Microsoft's Income Drops 32%, Its First Decline in 23 Years - Gizmodo Australia

Ouch. Microsoft Profits Drop 32 Percent In March Quarter

Microsoft earnings drop as netbooks take chunk of PC sales - Ars Technica

I just read the news in Times, and its like everywhere.
and many people are telling many different reasons.

Do you think its because of Vista? Netbooks? Open Source Software? or Economical Crysis? or Aliens? or anything else?

[rokytnji]

Maybe because the economy has gone bust all over the world. There are always pirated versions of vista available and xp. Thats gotta hurt to....

Be nice to think Open source has made a dent. But I aint seeing it in the USA. Maybe overseas though.

[MikeTbob]

Maybe because the economy has gone bust all over the world. There are always pirated versions of vista available and xp. Thats gotta hurt to....

Be nice to think Open source has made a dent. But I aint seeing it in the USA. Maybe overseas though.

It is happening here too, we just don't see much of it, like corporations and schools. I don't know what it's going to take for us to see immediate results. I guess when we host "Linux Pep rallys" at the local bar or pub.

I really don't wish bad things on MS, but if you believe in Karma, MS has it coming to them for years of bad judgments.

[elija]

I think it is a combination of things.

Copyright Theft (I won't call it piracy)
Open Source and commercial competitors in every arena
Global Economic Downturn
And yes possibly Aliens.

Microsoft is very like the IBM of the early 1980's; the global incumbent and apparently un-touchable. The climate changed, along came the IBM PC and IBM were out done by the clone makers, screwed by Microsoft and had to change to survive.

IBM today is a very different beast. I think Microsoft is starting to go through the same process. it will survive but it will not look the same.

[b2bwild]

Yes, obvious they got billions of $ to change themselves, I mean its just a shame even being a big corporation Microsoft never diversified to any other fields, what a waste of money.

Its all because Microsoft thinks that people will never go against them and will keep using some stupid and expensive software. while piracy of Windows is not issue for them. because it helps Microsoft to keep their monopoly.
If all unofficial copies of Windows just gets vanish in a day, M$ will loose 85% of their market share.

I don't wish anything bad to Microsoft too, but it will be fun if this come true.

[L4Linux]

Be nice to think Open source has made a dent. But I aint seeing it in the USA. Maybe overseas though.

I put a web counter in my clan page of an online game. The stats showed that only 1% used Linux (that was me probably...) and a little less MAC.
BUT, Firefox usage was 90%!!!Yes 90% of 3.000 views
So the pattern of Open Source usage varies greatly around Countries.
In Greece, as that counter showed, no one uses Linux, but every one loves Firefox.

[dalinux_n00bie]

Do you think its because of Vista? Netbooks? Open Source Software? or Economical Crisis? or Aliens? or anything else?

Probably a little bit of it all. I would put most the blame on Vista and Apples hardcore and throughout bashing of it in their comercials, in combination of a horrible economical crisis.

But lets not rule out the aliens. I'm sure they played a big part

[bigvoo]

During the board meeting when the cpa's announced this, the president of M.S stood up, pounded his fists on the table and screamed: LINUUUXXXXXXXX!!!!!!!!!!

[oz]

You know, I've seen these photos lots of times in the past, and I've seen hundreds of photos of Bill Gates since he became a billionaire, but I really don't recall ever seeing any photos where he looked happier than he did the day he was arrested New Mexico.

Strange perhaps, but true... I wonder if he misses the good old days?

[Lazydog]

I put a web counter in my clan page of an online game. The stats showed that only 1% used Linux (that was me probably...) and a little less MAC.
BUT, Firefox usage was 90%!!!Yes 90% of 3.000 views
So the pattern of Open Source usage varies greatly around Countries.
In Greece, as that counter showed, no one uses Linux, but every one loves Firefox.

Don't let the numbers fool you. Firefox runs on just about every OS out there today.

M$ is seeing the change since the economy has changed. People can no longer afford the M$ Tax. Schools are starting to use Linux more and more as it is not costing them a dime to maintain. This then has kids coming out of school with knowledge of linux and they continue to use it. I also think the gaming world has taken a hit on M$ also. PS3 and Xbox are taking away from M$. It used to be that M$ was the only way you could play a game but since these have arrived games programmers have moved so did the games.