

The end of Microsoft as we know it? - keaneu
http://www.marketwatch.com/enf/rss.asp?guid={440BADC1-5825-482B-8976-153BEF719233}&amp;siteid=rss&amp;rss=1

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Shorel
This one's easy.

It's much better to develop software if you're a small company (only in terms
of people, not capital). You're faster. Less bureaucracy.

But to sell software, it's easier if you're a big one. So Microsoft organises
itself in several independent units to develop and one big entity to sell.
Problem solved.

The Bungie incident is about creativity. Games are harder to develop than
normal software, and require more creativity. Bungie programmers are tired of
only making Halo. If Microsoft didn't let Bungie detach from the big company,
then all Bungie employees would have quit and started another company. I'm
tired of Halo too. Half-life is so much better that it hurts just to think
about it.

Not all Microsoft employees can afford to quit and start a company.

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Xichekolas
I like the idea of Microsoft organizing more like Berkshire Hathaway...
Warren's whole idea was that he only buys brilliantly run companies, and why
would he change anything after he bought it? It's already brilliantly run.
Microsoft could probably benefit from the idea of trusting the unit to be
responsible for itself.

However, they _will not_ spin off Windows or Office. I saw some stat once that
these two products make up over 90% of their profits. They will milk those
cash cows until they die, which will eventually happen, but not anytime soon.

What throws me is why he mentioned stock price and splits. Everyone that knows
anything about stocks knows that splits are just masturbation. If anything
they are a waste of money and obfuscate historical data because you have to
keep track of split adjustments. A higher per share price != higher market
capitalization.

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aston
Actually, Office and Windows together make up more than 100% of Microsoft's
profits. That's how Microsoft can afford things like MSR and entering new
markets where they're taking big losses initially (like Xbox and Zune).

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electric
"make up more than 100%"

How is that possible?

~~~
aston
Profit, not revenue.

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mhb
Look for a reverse stock split to give Microsoft a $5000 share price. Now it's
worth more than Google. Boom - a whole new company - problem solved.

Does this guy read his own stuff before publishing it?

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jetpack
Daniel Eran had ripped him a new one, probably on numerous occasions:
[http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q2.07/23659F71-13A...](http://www.roughlydrafted.com/RD/RDM.Tech.Q2.07/23659F71-13AE-4865-908A-2712484708E1.html)

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anupamkapoor
here is the original interview:
[http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/...](http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/10/15/ccprof115.xml)
just in case you missed it.

