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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."

15 of 289 comments (clear)

  1. Wow. by korbulon · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Imagine what these numbers would be if they actually knew what the fuck they were doing.

    1. Re:Wow. by Ralph+Wiggam · · Score: 5, Funny

      I assume that the company you run made more than $6.5B last quarter.

    2. Re:Wow. by tripleevenfall · · Score: 4, Funny

      Obviously a lot of people want to learn how to breakdance. That's what Surface tablets are for, right? I watch a lot of tv commercials

    3. Re:Wow. by kelemvor4 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Obviously a lot of people want to learn how to breakdance. That's what Surface tablets are for, right? I watch a lot of tv commercials

      I've got one (the original PRO), it's great for a portable device. Full on windows that can actually run real programs yet shaped like a tablet. I've got an ipad and a Samsung galaxy tab that were used for a couple months but then were relegated to dust collection. Man can only play so much angry birds...

      I prefer taking it to meetings over my laptop.

      And remember. It's just an intel Core i5 computer with an SSD and 4gb of ram shaped like a tablet. If you don't like win8, then install Linux, or whatever OS you want on one.

      It's not even close to perfect, but it's the best attempt at a tablet I've seen for sale.

    4. Re:Wow. by nabsltd · · Score: 4, Informative

      Despite the fact that this is a tablet with known hardware and limited upgrade capabilities (basically only USB devices...nothing PCIe), the Windows 8 install includes every driver and every feature of Windows 8, ready and waiting in case you need it.

      So, even though you probably don't want to run IIS, manage an Active Directory domain, or run an NFS server on your tablet, you're still devoting disk space to those "just waiting" features.

  2. Strategy? by nashv · · Score: 5, Interesting

    That billion dollar write-off on the Surface tablets doesn't seem so bad now does it...

    --
    Entia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.
  3. Re:Rumers..demise..exaggerated. by RaceProUK · · Score: 5, Insightful

    That reads almost too much like a sales pitch/shill post.

    --
    No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
  4. Good to hear by StripedCow · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's always good to hear that the world's largest software firm has a higher revenue than the world's largest advertisement firm.

    Regardless of whether it is MS or not.

    --
    If Pandora's box is destined to be opened, *I* want to be the one to open it.
  5. Surface in the Enterprise by Sir_Eptishous · · Score: 5, Interesting

    We have recently purchased a Surface to test with some LIMS software we use, which currently runs fine on W7. We were told it wouldn't run on 8. It has been discovered that it does in fact run on 8 and runs fine on our Surface. We are going to to test using Surface tablets running 8.1 in our environment. So far so good.

    Are we running this on iPads or Android tablets? No.
    Why?
    Because the software in question, along with pretty much everything else we use is designed to run on either Windows or Linux.

    I could draw a conclusion here that Surface tablets will make in roads into the Enterprise for exactly this reason. Yes, yes, I know there are thousands of iPads in Enterprises right now, with all manner of executive and administrative staffers trying to look important at work with their tablet, while busily updating their FB status. However, I feel that because of MS's entrenched position in the Enterprise the Surface is more of a "work" device than an iPad or Android tablet.

    --
    We play the game with the bravery of being out of range
    1. Re:Surface in the Enterprise by sandytaru · · Score: 4, Interesting

      My husband's school offered him an iPad. He asked them for a Surface instead. After some quick checking with IT, he got his Surface. The IT department was actually happy about it, since they have a Microsoft+Linux server backend and the Surface acts like any other Windows machine when interfaced with the network. So while all the iPad users end up putting in a service call every week because some app isn't working right, my husband (and the two other Surface users that joined him) haven't had any issues at all.

      Now, I lost some faith in the Surface when I saw it have a BSOD just after 8.1 rolled out, but it only happened to him once.

      --
      Occasionally living proof of the Ballmer peak.
  6. Re:Rumers..demise..exaggerated. by Shaman · · Score: 4, Insightful

    > I'm a .NET developer so I'm a Fanboy because nothing else comes close for enterprise development.

    Wow. That's a real head-shaker.

    --
    ...Steve
  7. Re:Rumers..demise..exaggerated. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I know, I didn't throw in enough mindless "Micro$hafts" or invoke Clippy enough. I'll try harder next time.

    I'm a .NET developer so I'm a Fanboy because nothing else comes close for enterprise development.

    You're fanboy for the wrong reasons. Microsoft is the classic bully. They take a standard and change it enough to be a pain in the ass for everyone else to integrate with. Then you have to explain to management that MS is doing something a little different that causes problems. Inevitably, a fanboy like yourself will pipe up and say that if everything were Microsoft, we wouldn't have this problem, when in fact because things are Microsoft, we have the problem.

    I'm not trying to be a jerk, but my experience is that most people who program using MS tools are clueless. Not because their stupid, but because Microsoft makes all the decisions for them. Web services aren't a good idea until MS came out with the VS Web Service Wizard.

    There's a reason Microsoft's address is One Microsoft Way.

  8. Re:Rumers..demise..exaggerated. by Spy+Handler · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you choose Japanese, you need to install SQR Server 2008.

  9. Reading comprehension, D- by westlake · · Score: 4, Informative

    Taking in money doesn't necessarily mean anything unless you can actually make money.

    $6.66 billion net. $24.52 billion gross.

  10. Re:Rumers..demise..exaggerated. by lgw · · Score: 4, Interesting

    No, Java's the only other real contender for modern "enterprise" software (the backend - much of the JS on the client sadly comes from Java libraries). I've spent years writing code in both Java and C#, and these days C# wins hands down.

    For years they were leapfrogging one another - whichever language had the most recent major release was a bit better, but not enough to really matter. But Java hit the rocks a few years back and has been sinking ever since. It had stumbled before Oracle, when C# got modern list processing with LINQ and a lambda operator, and Java missed the boat. And with the death of Sun, they never recovered.

    The single biggest missing piece for C# right now is the lack of official support for writing Android apps in C#/Visual Studio. There are commercial solutions for that, but without official blessing it lacks the power of "no one has ever been fired for buying IBM". Maybe the new bosses at MS can get wise to that - it's not like they don't make money off of Android sales.

    --
    Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.