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Vista Sales Strong, Higher Than Expected
An anonymous reader writes "Despite reports, it seems Microsoft is not only alive, but has been thriving these last few months. Following Apple's solid earnings yesterday comes above-expectation reporting from Microsoft. Profits jumped 65% from the previous year, and sales of its Windows operating system were strong: 'Microsoft said it deferred $1.2 billion in Windows Vista revenue to the third quarter, to account for upgrade coupons given to PC buyers during the holiday season before the consumer launch of the new operating system. Excluding this figure, client revenue totaled $4.1 billion, 30 percent higher than last year.' Microsoft Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell said Vista beat internal forecasts by $300 million to $400 million, and Office 2007 sales were $200 million better than expected."
Revenue is only 30% higher after releasing a new product, and this is higher than expected? I'm no expert, but for a new "revolutionary" product that the whole Windows world is expected to adopt... not so good.
If I only had a moose...
Not only is Microsoft dying..
But every other OS that manages to bump up its marketshare more than 3% is the wave of the future, and the only bandwagon you should be on!
A lot of people seem to think it is harmful to your career to ally oneself with the technology that is still the overwhelming leader in the market. Personally I don't understand that.
It's kind of like being the the transportation industry, and choosing to specialize in bicycles...economically, it is not a very good plan.
No reason to lie.
Obviously they sold a lot of Vista.
After all, every new PC comes with Vista, if you want it or not (with very few exceptions).
Thus, sales are up. Since Vista is not all that cheap, profits are up.
You're surprised?
Free PC version of ChipWits at http://www.breueronline.de/klaus/chipwits/
Maybe this does make sense after all. Here's why:
Windows XP is a very mature operating system. People rarely experience lockups (I haven't had one for months), it looks OK, it's speedy with today's hardware and it is far more secure than it was a few years ago.
The point is that XP is good to those who currently use it. Those who want 'more' just get Vista. Maybe XP and Vista is going to co-exist longer than any of MS:es previous operating systems ever have before, simply because both products are good (or at least Vista will be in half a year or so). Previously, we had 2K and XP competing, and before that 9x/Me and 2K, where we had a clear winner in both operating systems. Now I can't say that Vista is a clear winner to XP, but rather a good 'alternative'.
Yes, Ubuntu and OSX are great alternatives, but it takes a lot to make a user switch an operating system entirely, so I am not taking this into account.
Full Tilt
A lot of people seem to think it is harmful to your career to ally oneself with the technology that is still the overwhelming leader in the market. Personally I don't understand that.
If you don't understand that I have a fairly comprehensive explanation for you to download.
In quarkXpress 7 format only.
---- MISSING MISCELLANEOUS DATA SEGMENT --- [sigdash] trolololol
I choose not to use Windows because as a developer it's not a useful OS in the slightest. That it costs more than Gentoo, is less standard compliant, and the target of more bugs [regardless of the quality of OSS that is] doesn't help either.
A lot of people use Windows not by choice but by the virtue of it's what came with their computer and they don't care to investigate alternatives [even if it's to their benefit].
It's the same reason people eat at fast food joints. It's convenient, around every corner, and seeking out alternatives means they have to do some thinking on their own, which is really scary.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
Counting Coupons according to when they are redeemed is a way to spread out the data. It's a big game, no one outside of Microsoft really knows the real numbers, otherwise the shareholders would demand serious restructuring (kill Xbox, Zune, become MS Office company, return cash pile to shareholders, produce more Mac software etc).
My little Linux and tech blog
As someone who makes a living progamming on different Operating Systems Every Day. There is a definate advantage having skills in the non-market leader products.
First You can charge more.
If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
Except back in the mid-late 90's and even into the early 00's, Quark was the standard for design and layout. Adobe had PageMaker, but real professionals used Quark.
So if you placed all of your important work into the defacto standard of the time, Quark, you'd be a bit behind right now as the industry has mostly moved on. I think what the GP was trying to make a point with, is no companies dominance lasts forever, so try not to tie yourself to heavily to one.
If you don't understand that I have a fairly comprehensive explanation for you to download.
Yes but there is a difference between a technology causing harm to the industry and causing harm to you personally. For instance if I'm a developer working on Windows I won't be causing myself any harm. In fact I'd probably be helping myself.
A lot of "us" windows developers have been programming on it since before it became the "EVIL SATAN" often portrayed here on slashdot and make an excellent living at it. Can I program on Linux? Sure, I do so all the time at home, programming embedded devices and robots and I've released open source software under GPL license. Maybe one day I'll be able to work on them full time. But right now I work on the "Ford" of the industry. It's not unwise and it's not unethical. It's just reality. We deal with the reality of the industry, and that reality is that Windows dominates the market so it makes economic sense to use it.
I don't align my personal feelings with a technology, it's not wise.
These are facts. Reported to the SEC. You can't call raw, concrete sales revenue/profit "astrotuf," especially when they provide the breakdown of numbers with coupons excluded. There isn't even any gray area left.
Facts are nothing without interpretation. The submission implies that a relatively modest increase in sales on the heels of the first new OS release in 6 years means that everything is fantastic over at Redmond. This indicates either presence of spin or lack of a brain. You pick. Coupled with the fact that the submitter is anonymous, I lean toward a PR campaign, which MS has been known to do in that fashion.
Just because you don't like Microsoft doesn't mean everything positive about them is astroturf. I'm hoping it's because you didn't bother reading the article,
I don't particularly care about MS, but lack of logic skills in reporting bugs me. The headline of the submission "Vista Sales Strong, Higher Than Expected" is simply not supported by the only externally available evidence ("Profits jumped 65% from the previous year") because Vista DIDN'T EXIST last year.
You want to do a real study, find out how Vista did vs. XP in terms of quarter-over-quarter earnings jump the first quarter after release. Let's not rely on intentionally-low earnings forecasts from MS that have room for built-in good news. Hell, maybe it would show that Vista is doing better. I really don't care. But let's have some intelligent, unbiased reporting and submissions that don't come from anonymous shills.
Sheesh. Basic logic skills are sorely lacking around here.
I happen to work on Wall Street, and the ignorance of how some people perceive the financial markets is just amazing. I am sure "surfduke" is way smarter than the analysts than the following Analysts that follow MSFT:
A. G. EDWARDS & SONS, INC. KEVIN BUTTIGIEG
ARGUS RESEARCH CORP. ROBERT BECKER
ATLANTIC EQUITIES CHRISTOPHER HICKEY
BANC OF AMERICA SECURITIES LLC. KIRK S. MATERNE
BEAR, STEARNS & CO. JOHN DIFUCCI
CANACCORD ADAMS PETER MISEK
CIBC WORLD MARKETS CORP. BRAD REBACK
CITIGROUP BRENT THILL
COWEN AND COMPANY WALTER PRITCHARD
CREDIT SUISSE - NORTH AMERICA JASON MAYNARD
CROWELL, WEEDON & CO. JAMES D. RAGAN
D. A. DAVIDSON & CO. ALAN L. DAVIS
DAVENPORT & CO. OF VIRGINIA, INC. F. DRAKE JOHNSTONE
E.K.RILEY INVESTMENTS, LLC ROBERT E. TOOMEY
FIRST ALBANY CORP. MARK MURPHY
FIRST GLOBAL STOCKBROKING LTD. SHASHIKIRAN RAO
FRIEDMAN, BILLINGS, RAMSEY & CO. DAVID M. HILAL
GLOBAL EQUITIES RESEARCH TRIP CHOWDHRY
GOLDMAN SACHS & CO. SARAH FRIAR
GRIFFIN SECURITIES, INC. CHRYSTYNA BEDRIJ
ICAP EQUITY RESEARCH RICHARD T. WILLIAMS
JPMORGAN ADAM HOLT
JYSKE BANK PER-ROBERT JACOBSEN
KINTISHEFF RESEARCH TSVETAN KINTISHEFF
LEHMAN BROTHERS ISRAEL HERNANDEZ
MCADAMS WRIGHT RAGEN SID PARAKH
MERRILL LYNCH KASH RANGAN
MORGAN STANLEY MARY MEEKER
NUTMEG SECURITIES JEAN WOPAT ORR
PACIFIC CREST SECURITIES BRENDAN J. BARNICLE
PACIFIC GROWTH EQUITIES YUN KIM
PIPER JAFFRAY MICHAEL J. OLSON
PRUDENTIAL EQUITY GROUP, LLC JOHN P. MCPEAKE
RAGEN MACKENZIE, A DIVSN OF WELLS FARGO TAUNYA R. SELL
RBC CAPITAL MARKETS (CANADA) STEPHEN WALKER
RBC CAPITAL MARKETS (US) ROBERT BREZA
ROCHDALE SECURITIES LLC DAVID ELLER
SANFORD C. BERNSTEIN & CO., LLC CHARLES J. DI BONA
SOLEIL-ONE-ON-ONE RESEARCH DAWN S. TALBOT
STANFORD GROUP COMPANY NEIL J. HERMAN
THOMAS WEISEL PARTNERS TIM E. KLASELL
UBS (US) HEATHER A. BELLINI
WILLIAM BLAIR & COMPANY, L.L.C. LAURA J. LEDERMAN
Not to mention countless buy side institutions with trillions dollars in combined assets such as hedge and mutual funds. At the moment of this writing the stock is up $1.24 or roughly 11 billion dollars in market cap. I guess they are not reading slashdot. I wonder why don't all the people on here that forecast demise of MSFT put their money where their mouth is and just short the stock, or even better buy some put options. Go ahead take a second mortgage and bet your life against the Company if you really believe MSFT is doomed. I used to be a frequent visitor to Slashdot since I always valued input of some really smart people on vide-variety of mostly scientific topics. But blatant, childish attacks on MSFT and herd mentality on some of the topics made me visit this website less and less. And its amazing some other companies, like AAPL for example seem to be darlings on this board. And its surprising to me that AAPL stands higher on moral and idealistic scale even though it is a fact that AAPL has been accused of many monopolistic practices, it is a fact that Steve Jobs is a liar and a thief (anyone that does thinks that a CEO of a major corporation has no idea what option backdating is needs a reality check.). It is sad to see such consistent high scores on comments that exhibit such level of herd mentality on this website. Anyway I will stop now, I am sure I provided enough material to get moded as a troll. Its an earning season and if I want to get out of the office by midnight I need to stop wasting my time here and go back to work...