Pondering Microsoft's 'Everett Dirksen moment'
Update at 7:00 a.m. July 19: Typo fixed in the senator's last name.
Illinois Sen. Everett Dirksen is remembered for the quip, "A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon, you're talking real money." (Truth be told, it's unclear whether those were his exact words, but he's got that tagline for posterity.)
I was thinking of the former senator after listening to Microsoft's chief financial officer explain to analysts why the company intends to continue to pour hundreds of millions of dollars into a business which still isn't producing much of a return. But the online advertising business is just too important to Microsoft's future to be penny wise and pound foolish. Of course, it helps when you're the CFO of a company with tens of billions of dollars in cash and marketable securities. For more, check out the conversation I had with my CNET News colleague, Ina Fried, earlier Friday.
Charles Cooper has covered technology and business for more than 25 years. Before joining CNET News, he worked at the Associated Press, Computer & Software News, Computer Shopper, PC Week, and ZDNet. E-mail Charlie. 





Microsoft is willing to pour billions of shareholders funds down to drain in order to just keep up - its a weak business model, but if they don't then the company would likely move into a slow decline. In fact slow decline may be the preferable option from a shareholders point of view - continue to eek out its Windows monopoly and let investors do the diversifying of their portfolios by buying into Google et al...
IBM truly DID invent the PC and then made it accessible to the world.
And then, IBM just sort of started fading away. IBM had all the advantages but it just didn't matter. Somehow, it just couldn't bring itself to stay in touch with reality.
Microsoft seems to be following (stumbling) along in the footsteps of IBM. Strange, isn't it? I think I can see WHAT is happening. But what I can't fathom is WHY it is happening.
But it sure is happening.
REG CROWDER
Freelance Finance and Investment Writer
London, UK & Brittany, France
[http://www.utalkmarketing.com/Blogs/UserBlogs.aspx?UserID=6304]
[http://www.journalistdirectory.com/journalist/TgTQ/REG-CROWDER]
IBM managed to adapt and to re-invent itself. Question is, can Microsoft do the same?
IBM faded away in the PC market because of a singular all-time blunder: It did not acquire the exclusive rights to DOS when it picked it as the OS for the then new PC.
This allowed MS to sell DOS to the clone makers who subsequently outsold IBM, eventually leading to IBM ceding control of the PC industry to Microsoft. IBM tried to reassert control over the industry with OS2 but by then it was too late. MS had thoroughly outmaneuvered them.
If IBM had acquired exclusivity over DOS, IBM would probably still be in control of the PC industry and MS would be just another also-ran software vendor which, based on the quality of their current products, might not even be around today.
- by charlie cooper July 19, 2008 7:12 AM PDT
- yes, it is. sloppy editing on my part. fixed now.
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