Microsoft's #1 Cash Cow Doesn't Sell Well Anymore, Steve Ballmer Pressured to Leave
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2010-07-31 06:18:09 UTC
- Modified: 2010-07-31 06:18:09 UTC
Summary: Microsoft's Office sales are said to be "disappointing" and the Wall Street Journal foresees more trouble ahead
Microsoft Office 2010
has been receiving poor reviews, but as noted before, Microsoft hyped it up far too much (marketing budget alone almost reached $100,000,000). See for example posts like:
Microsoft Office 2010 sales are disappointing, says a report which IDG
mentioned:
"This fact highlights the challenges for Microsoft going forward for Office," Baker wrote. "A strong product launched into a saturated market faces considerable headwinds. Even so, sales of Office 2010 in general have to be characterized as a bit disappointing during the first two weeks."
This isn't particularly surprising and as Canonical's Matt Asay
points out yesterday:
n Wednesday's Wall Street Journal, columnist Holman Jenkins, Jr asks if "Steve Ballmer is a failed CEO?" then forecasts Microsoft's feeble future even as it banks record profits. Microsoft is a company stuck in the glory years of the 1980s and 1990s - truly glorious years for a company that built not one but two massive cash cows: Windows and Office.
The profit margins of Windows and Office gradually erode as competition increases. Microsoft's Windows profits
decline over the years, leading to
more and more layoffs and
an increase in Microsoft's debt. Don't believe the
accounting hype like Asay believes it. Ballmer inherited a company with huge cash reserves which were depleted.
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Comments
Agent_Smith
2010-07-31 16:35:15
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2010-07-31 16:56:34
Agent_Smith
2010-07-31 15:48:03
But I read Mr. Asay's article... I kinda pity that article, he, giving good tips for Micro$oft ? Anyway, once, M$ wanted to be like IBM. Then, it should accept to fade away like IBM's fading...
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
2010-07-31 16:26:11