Comments on: Microsoft sales fall 6 percent from a year ago
The software maker fails for the first time to see year-over-year revenue climb, as sales fell 6 percent from a year earlier for the three months ended March 31.
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During her years at CNET News, Ina Fried has changed beats several times, changed genders once, and covered both of the Pirates of Silicon Valley. These days, most of her attention is focused on Microsoft.
Beyond Binary is a look at how technology is changing our lives and the people behind all that life-changing stuff, with an extra emphasis on that which emanates from Redmond, Wash.
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Xbox 360 (AKA : X-SUX 180) - massive hardware issues cost MS tons of money. Lots of sales, but cost of repairing millions of bad boxes is adding up and affecting the bottom line.
Vista - DOA at the corporate level, where they make a lot of their money. No IT dept in their right mind can afford to upgrade all their PCs in order to deploy Vista.
Moral of this story???
Make good products and prosper, make crap and reap the bitter harvest...
Now, here comes Windows 7 and Vista is going to just be joining Windows ME in the hall of shame in Redmond.
Even at the Consumer level many people buy machines preinstalled with Vista, yet are asking to be downgraded to XP. This is VERY common. Almost everyone I know would prefer an XP machine over a Vista machine, and since Win7 is nothing more than a Service Pack for Vista, I don't expect to see alot of them flocking to Windows 7.
Your comment made no sense.
Hmm.
WHAY CAN'T MICROSLOTH PAY FOR ALL OF THIS SINCE IT BENEFITS THEIR EAST & WEST CAMPUS & EMPLOYEES?
WHY ARE THE TAXPAYERS HAVING TO PAY FOR THIS WITH MICROSLOTH?
GET THE MONEY FROM BILL GATES!
Stimulus money goes for a bridge to Microsoft
Seattle Times staff and Bloomberg News
A highway overpass meant to ease congestion around Microsoft's growing Redmond headquarters will be among the state's first recipients of federal funding from President Obama's stimulus plan, raising objections from groups scrutinizing how the $787 billion is spent.
The overpass will connect Northeast 31st Street and Northeast 36th Street, bridging Highway 520, which separates the older portions of the company's large corporate campus from a major new expansion nearing completion on the west side of the freeway.
"They said this is really important to them and we said it's important to us but we don't have enough funding," said Bill Campbell, city of Redmond public-works director, recalling early discussions with the company.
Microsoft committed $17.5 million in funding, 70 percent of the initial cost estimate, as part of a broader 2006 agreement regarding development of the campus. The city would come up with the rest, and even landed $2.5 million in regular federal aid, Campbell said.
As planners designed the project, they saw that because it crosses 520 at an angle, it would more likely cost $35 million to $40 million, Campbell said.
On Thursday, the Puget Sound Regional Council gave the project $11 million, topping the list of more than 50 projects in King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties sharing in $214 million in funding distributed through the organization.
Without the stimulus dollars, Microsoft would have had to kick in more money or wait longer.
The fact that stimulus dollars are going toward a project seen to benefit a wealthy corporate giant raised the hackles of taxpayer groups and stimulus watchdogs.
"I'm sure Steve Ballmer or Bill Gates could finance this out of pocket change," Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, said of Microsoft's chief executive officer and chairman. "Subsidizing an overpass to one of the richest companies in the country certainly isn't going to be the best use of our precious dollars.
"It's a bridge to Microsoft," he said. Ellis' Washington, D.C.-based group, which tracks government spending, coined the phrase "bridge to nowhere".
The Washington State Department of Transportation (WSDOT) Web site:
"The Overlake area of Redmond is growing rapidly, due in part to the expansion of the Microsoft campus. The new bridge will improve traffic flow and provide a critical link to the east and west side of Highway 520."
The tree-lined, 480-foot overpass will have one vehicle lane in each direction, pedestrian paths and a bike lane".
The $787 billion stimulus plan, which Obama signed Feb. 17, includes $27.6 billion nationwide for highways, $8.4 billion to improve public transportation, and $8 billion for high-speed rail and intercity-passenger lines.
"The state is running around trying to find these little projects that are ready to go," he said. "These people will all be unemployed again by the summer."
Campbell said he expects the project to take 16 to 18 months, with completion expected in winter 2010.
Seattle Times technology reporter Benjamin J. Romano contributed to this report.
either way i hope microsoft continues to make them.. to me its just like watching the movie dumb and dumber.. love that flick!
1. Xbox repairs are costing them an enormous amount of money.
2. Vista is a monumental failure at the revenue and adoption level.
Make good products and people will continue to buy them, make crap and we all see what happens. Bad economy or not.
Why is this article no longer on the front page? I'd think this is more worthy of a single day.
Vista is not a failure.
adoption rate at the corporate level is LOW. Consumer's want tho continue using XP.
It think Vista is on about 10 PCs here at my company, that is 10 out of about 2000.
Yes, this is a first for them, but they're still doing incredibly well in this "recession," don't you think?
I want all of the obnoxious anti-Microsoft people to take a step back and calm down. Microsoft isn't going anywhere for a while. They will prevail. I don't see this as the beginning of a new trend.
I think a lot of people are just waiting for the release of Windows 7, so that could affect their sales.
All in all, I think Microsoft will be fine...as always. They're at the top for a reason. ;)
It's their own weight and arrogance. "We know better" attitude. Extreme slowness in fixing issues and
moving forward. And lack of adult supervision.
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