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Microsoft Shares Hit All-Time High As Company Strengthens Its Cloud Grip (usatoday.com)
Marco della Cava, reporting for USA Today: Microsoft shares surged 5% in early trading Friday, and passed a high set in 1999, helped by enthusiasm for progress in its cloud business. The stock was at up at $60.11, breezing past the $58.72 mark set in December 1999. Friday's rally follows Microsoft's latest quarterly report, out late Thursday, that beat analyst expectations for adjusted sales and profit and showcased a doubling of growth in its Azure cloud business, while reflecting continued strain from consumers' pivot away from PCs and traditional software purchases.Microsoft reported its Q1 2017 earnings yesterday, noting a revenue of $20.5 billion, which was higher than Wall Street's expectations. Company's Intellgent Cloud revenue was up 8 percent, whereas Azure revenue observed 116 percent growth year-on-year.
You can't buy your software anymore, you just rent it. That means you can't just pay once and do whatever you want with that license -- you keep paying, forever (way more than you would have under the old "buy a copy of version x" model) and, being that this software is constantly phoning home to Microsoft, can be changed, cut off, etc. at their whim (as well as more easily hacked / hijacked). Adobe, Intuit, and others of the old desktop software brigade are all moving to this model. It's great for them because of the recurring cash flow, but exactly what is the benefit for the end user besides promised "upgrades"? Do we really need another version of Word (God no -- quit changing it and forcing us to re-learn your shitty interface!)? Did Generally Accepted Accounting Principles change that much that a new major version of QuickBooks is required every year? This should be a huge slam dunk opportunity for the open source desktop software community.