1x Msft Discussion Threads

[financialruin] 14/7/2002 17:24

"Wal-Mart Says Sales Are Rising for New Alternative to Windows
By Peter J. Brennan

Bentonville, Arkansas, July 14 (Bloomberg) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, said sales are rising for personal computers using Lindows, a new operating system trying to encroach on Microsoft Corp.'s Windows.

Wal-Mart's Web site features a $299 PC loaded with Lindows. A similarly equipped PC from Dell Computer Corp. costs $559 while a Gateway Inc. box runs $529, according to their Web sites.

``Sales have been very strong and have exceeded what we expected,'' Wal-Mart spokeswoman Cynthia Lin said, declining to give specific figures. The PC, which began selling a month ago, includes 128 megabytes of memory and a 10-gigabyte hard-disk drive and excludes a monitor."

Could this be the beginning of the end?

See:

[ebeing] 13/7/2002 00:32

Ok Mighty Micro, Microsoft have not been the innovators, what matters is they had a positive effect on the disparate computer industry.

Does Clive Sinclair still make calculators and games machines? I think not, Casio has cornered the calculator market and Sony/Microsoft have got the games market all tied up.

You have to be a 'business man' to get things moving, to make things happen, to pull your workforce together and really sell product to the market (giving consumers what they want, sort of).

Microsoft got things moving and have a prescence in all the various fields of software (operating systmes, applications, games, utilities, office suites etc etc etc etc .....). Microsoft make it a point to bring out new versions of their major products every two years, it keeps the industry on its toes as well as making money from upgrading activity)

I have no qualms against people shortselling Microsoft - its all money driven in the end, so its the other side of the same coin - Bill Gates makes money - shortsellers make money - both driven by same goals.

It wouldnt surprise me if Fed are propping up Microsoft. The US Justice department put the brakes on the Microsoft steamroller and now the Feds are trying to prop it up !! (the brakes being put on Microsoft could be seen as the herald for the end of the bull run but understandably the yankees don't like too much power going to one company)

[paddyfool] 28/6/2002 11:22

Haven't MSFT got the most enourmous cash pile? $40,000,000,000 I believe. I was with some people from their recently and they were talking about their unsuccessful foray into ASP which cost them $5,000,000,000! dead scarey

[pat o hat] 28/6/2002 11:04

Microsoft hatches new plan for world domination (I think, as I only understood about one word in two)

By Robert X. Cringely (real name?) of PBS

[pat o hat] 28/6/2002 11:04

Called Palladium.

[energyi] 19/6/2002 00:49

Leader of the Pack
Microsoft peaked before the broader market cracked
in 2000, perhaps triggering that event

EXCERPT
To sell Microsoft (MSFT:Nasdaq - news - commentary - research - analysis) or not to sell? That is the question -- once unthinkable, even heretical -- many investors have been asking of late. More specifically, is the software giant's recent rally a "gift" from the trading gods or the beginning of a long-awaited revival?

Early this month, Microsoft shares dipped below $50, a breach some technicians believed would trigger a move down to $40.25, their intraday low on Dec. 22, 2000. Break $40, and Microsoft might revisit its late-1997 levels near $30, claimed the hard-core bears. But the software giant clawed back above $50 and, spurred by rumors the company would preannounce better-than-expected earnings, closed at $55.54 last Wednesday. No such proclamation has been forthcoming, but Microsoft ended the week at $55.25 and was rallying again Monday morning amid an advance for major averages.

That Microsoft led major averages back from the brink of potential meltdown scenarios on both Wednesday and Friday last week was not coincidental. Conspiracy theories about the firm's shares being artificially goosed aside, it's fair to say you can replace Microsoft for IBM in the old saying, "As IBM goes, so goes the market."
MORE:

[energyi] 18/6/2002 10:42

Weak closing yesterday on a strong day.
Might be a good short again

[smellberg] 16/6/2002 20:36

Only just spotted this thread. I'm pleased to see it here on the fbb. I am a regular MSFT trader and am currently short. I really do believe that analysts upgrades etc are irrelevant here because when the US 2nd quater earnings start to kick in the nas is in big trouble. I trade MSFT daily and would not consider going long right now.

[mightymicro] 16/6/2002 19:54

ebeing: just noticed your post 42

"I am grateful for the innovation of Msoft and wish there were more proactive people like Bill G around."

If there's one thing Microsoft can't be accused of, it's innovation. Name the top ten computer innovations created by Microsoft.

1. The microcomputer operating system? No. (Digital Research - Gary Kildall)

2. Windowing? No. (Xerox Palo Alto Research Center)

3. Ethernet networking? No. (As above - Bob Metcalfe)

4. The Mouse? No. (As above - Doug Engelbart)

5. The word processing program? No. (Various, but Rob Barnaby of MicroPro for WordStar will suffice, although Chuck Simonyi of PARC, later of MSFT, did great things.)

6. The spreadsheet? No. (Dan Bricklin at VisiCalc)

7. The personal computer? Certainly not (although Bill did try to claim in an infamous 1981 Microsoft brochure that he was "The Man behind the Machne") I think we'll give that to Apple and Altair.

8. UNIX and Linux operating systems? No. (You must be joking -- AT&T Bell labs and Linus Torvalds.)

9. The Internet? No (really, some people think Bill did this too -- Vint Cerf at Stanford University, funding from the US Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency and a host of people too numerous to mention -- but no one in Microsoft).

10 Email? No. (Ray Tomlinson -- 1971 -- he's the reason we use that @ sign)

11. The World-wide web? No. Tim Berners-Lee, a Brit at CERN, Geneva.

Indeed, the list of things that Microsoft didn't invent or innovate but on which they've built their fortune is almost endless.

Microsoft invented mass marketing of software. Now that's Bill's genius.

MM

[yz426] 16/6/2002 16:21

On verge of breaking out of double bottom:- (Fed fuelled or not)

Potential great shorting opportunity from c$58 - $60 (possibly higher)

[energyi] 12/6/2002 21:34

Back from the brink (below $50) and "in the faces" of the Bears.

But does MSFT have the moxy to get back above the 50's?
I doubt it, whatever the rumors of a "positive announcement" tomorrow

[energyi] 03/6/2002 08:48

MSFT is one of many Dow stocks with rather scarey looking
long term charts. a break of 45-ish would signal a much
larger drop IMHO

[financialruin] 01/6/2002 17:15

Don’t blame the poor employees of Microsoft for its lousy software, ineffective management and dismal share price performance. It is all, apparently, the fault of: “Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner, & Smith, Inc., Salomon Smith Barney, Inc., Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, Inc. and UBS PaineWebber, Inc”.

I wonder who else they can find to blame?

Apparently they should have been told to go short MSFT instead of long. Such an easy mistake to make. I’m sure they would have got much better advise from this BB!

See:

[energyi] 24/5/2002 17:42

The FUN is about to begin!

[pat o hat] 10/5/2002 07:05

Ebeing, you make fair points. Like everyone I use Microsoft products all the time, couldn't get along without them. However I also remember the world before Microsoft. IMHO Windows and its hellspawn of applications is patch upon patch, staggeringly inefficient and wasteful, designed to the lowest common denominator of human intellect. Excel is a particular affront to the numerate.

I am not going to install Linux tomorrow, as my knowledge of software engineering is a little below the masters level. I do however think it is time for Microsoft to move over & leave some room for the competition. Just a story worth following. Best wishes, Pat.

[pat o hat] 09/5/2002 23:13

After trading hours, Thurs May 9th.

SAN FRANCISCO (AFX) - Microsoft Corp has warned of a security flaw in its
instant messaging system, and has issued a software patch to fix it.
According to a Microsoft statement, the glitch would allow a hacker to run
any software code on the target user's machines.
Microsoft is advising users of its instant messaging service, called MSN
chat, to visit the company's chat web site for a number of fixes, including
upgrading MSN chat software or the patch.
"Any one of these actions will elminate the vulnerability," the company
stated.
Instant messaging (IM) instantly flashes messages across a users screen from
another user.
It is fast becoming a rival for e-mail as AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo have seen
their IM usage double in the last year.

An excuse for the faithful who bought in over the last two days?

[pat o hat] 05/5/2002 10:51

Aaaaargh! Heading for China according to Investtech. Broken the downtrend support, poised to break the big rectangle. Not even oversold as it was in September.

[financialruin] 04/5/2002 15:42

It’s interesting to see that MSFT closed on Friday 3rd May at $49.56, below the all important $50 level and below the post September 11 low of $49.71 (21st September 2001). MSFT is still, of course, priced at absurd levels. Where next?

[energyi] 03/5/2002 19:08

Mr. Softie now under $50. Next target: $45
Wish I was short MSFT

[financialruin] 24/4/2002 22:48

Microsoft closed today at $53.02. This was the lowest close of the year and a close perilously close to the post September 11 close low of $49.71 (21st September 2001).

Think about what Microsoft has going for it:

* Lousy software.
* Xbox is a huge flop.
* No innovations with any significant potential on the horizon.
* Slowing PC sales.
* Growing consumer protests about substandard Microsoft software.
* Employees (and Bill Bates) bailing out as quickly as they can sell the stock.
* Capitalisation of $287 Billion.

It is worth comparing Microsoft’s capitalisation of $287 Billion with the likely replacement value of its software. Much better operating systems are, of course, being given away for nothing (e.g linux). However, I’m sure that a good software team could replace all the important aspects of Microsoft software for no more than a few million dollars. If the right company had a billion dollars, we would never have to see a system crash again.

At $53.02 Microsoft is still ludicrously expensive. The only reason it still trades at such absurd levels is because of the enormous vested interests of the media and major financial institutions.

I can sum up my advice to investors about Microsoft in three words.

Avoid. Avoid. Avoid.

(But never short).

[energyi] 21/4/2002 00:15

TS,
Yes. Amazing. How long will it last?

[paulismyname] 20/4/2002 13:51

I sense a lot of US citizens/investors are contributing to this thread, for the record I am UK based. The fall of Microsoft, (if it happened) could possibly trigger another 1929 taking into account other world events at present.

I do not buy into that one, sorry folks. I see msft as a stable growth stock, albeit, in defensive mode.