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Microsoft Reports Record Revenue
jones_supa sends this AFP report:
"Microsoft soared to record revenues in the last quarter, confounding Wall Street forecasts on the back of strong demand for Xbox consoles, Surface tablets and Internet cloud services. The U.S.-based technology titan reported net income of $6.56 billion on revenue that hit a record high of $24.52 billion in the quarter that ended December 31. ... Sales of Surface tablets more than doubled from the previous quarter to hit $893 million, and Microsoft sold 7.4 million Xbox videogame consoles, with 3.9 million of those being new-generation Xbox One.
Bing's share of the Internet search market grew to 18.2 percent while its share of the online search ad market grew about a third, according to Microsoft. Meanwhile, money made from selling Windows software to computer makers slid by three percent due to continue soft demand by consumers for personal computers, according to Microsoft."
Microsoft has had some rough times both because they missed the boat on the Mobile Revolution and because they _royally_ fucked up by trying to turn the desktop into Metro. Their heart was in the right place by trying to make one unified interface to help them in the mobile business, but it's just an epic fail. It would have been so easy to do it right, too - make Metro the default on touch-enabled interfaces, but make it easy to disable it and make the desktop the default on non touch devices.
But I think they will ultimately be successful because they're the best software development company in the world. That's controversial (though it shouldn't be) but they are. They have the money, the culture, and the people to write very good software when they don't make otherwise bad decisions (like Metro Everywhere). That's why I bought an Xbox One instead of a PS4, not because I hate Sony but because Microsoft is fundamentally a better software company and I expect more and better features from them.
Same thing in the mobile market - Windows Phone is very nice technically and their development tools are leaps and bounds ahead of anyone else's. This doesn't assure them success but it's something only a fool would dismiss.