Bonum Certa Men Certa

Objective Signs of a Silent Microsoft Crisis, Deflation

"I was out with a couple of Silicon Valley software guys in New York the other night and got their view of Microsoft’s finances. Microsoft makes 60 percent of its profits on Windows, 60 percent on Office, and minus 20 percent on everything else, they said. "

--Technology & Finance



Summary: Microsoft -- like Novell -- has halted its buying spree; instead, Microsoft is borrowing money and its future seems less than certain (unless it splits to separate the profitable parts from the many failures)

IN ONE OF OUR LATEST posts we showed that Microsoft approved debt of up to $16 billion, at least for the time being. We explained that unless Microsoft keeps its money in some tax haven there is no reason for Microsoft to borrow money. Nevertheless, Microsoft takes further loans, thus increasing its existing debt, and it stopped buying companies (same with Novell, which looks for buyers). As CNET puts it, Microsoft bought not a single company this year and Google -- by comparison -- bought 23.



A recent blog post from information service provider CB Insights reveals a truly shocking piece of news: Microsoft has announced zero acquisitions in 2010, while Google has acquired 23 companies, 75 percent of which are venture financed or angel-backed.


Look closely as the graph (or bar chart) is definitely worth watching. Microsoft not only lost a lot of its value; it also stopped growing in terms of size through acquisitions, having previously been a top serial acquiror (that title is now reserved to Google on the face of it).

Most journalists do the safe thing by merely repeating other journalists who rewrite Microsoft press releases and other public statements, but Microsoft keeps taking more debt, repeatedly announcing layoffs, and killing many products. As Brad puts it in the post "Microsoft Death Watch", the situation becomes risky to Microsoft customers because Microsoft pulls rugs from underneath many people's (and partners') feet as it shuts down a product or division every 2 weeks or so. Brad writes:

Instead, I'm offering this as technical advice: how will it affect you personally, or your business, if Microsoft were to fail? No more Windows updates. No more Office updates. No more support. No more monthly security patches.

You need a plan B. Sure, your existing software will continue to run for months or years without updates, barring any major security breach. But instead of being tied by the gonads to one vendor, and hoping for the best, perhaps you should figure out now how to move away from reliance on Microsoft.


Windows and Office will be supported for quite some time to come (because they are cash cows), but almost everything else at Microsoft is a purging candidate. Nothing lasts forever, so the responsible thing to do is assess risk.

"Q: You say that "you can bet your business on Free Software"; how do you back up that statement?"

"A: How can you bet your business on proprietary software? If a company is bought, goes bankrupt or merges or decides to delete a product line you have no choice but to go with whatever product or path they desire. How can you plan when the company keeps changing its licensing terms, and you have no real alternatives? What do you do when the company that makes your software puts its own profits and its values ahead of yours, the customer? When the software company holds back on releasing the latest bug fix so it fits its "release schedule?" When you can't get that one little feature added that would allow you to streamline your business, save a lot of money and beat your competition to market?

"What happens if that company (no matter where it is) is embargoed?"

--Jon "Maddog" Hall, President, Linux International,
ComputerWorld interview



Recent Techrights' Posts

BetaNews, Inc. Became a Spam Operation/Web Site, LLM Spew (Slop) for SEO Disguised as "Articles"
Published 5 minutes ago by Brian Fagioli...
WordPress is for the 'Old Web'; the New Web Necessitates Static Pages
There are purely practical reasons to move away from WordPress and the likes of it
Biggest Debt Leap in Years, More Than Half a Trillion Dollars in Just One Month
We remind people (almost every year) that it's also "buynothingday"
Golden Dawn(ald) and What GAFAM Means to Liberal Techies
In one single screenshot
It's Morbid to Talk About Living People as If They're Dead
What happens to LLM slop when Brian Fagioli dies?
Silicon Valley and GAFAM Were Never Liberal
spineless CEOs and founders aren't against Trump
ChromeOS and GNU/Linux Growing in Spain (Almost 10% Now)
Whether this persists next month and next year will certainly matter
 
Links 12/11/2024: A Lot of Censorship and SWNS at 50
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/11/2024: Invidious Down and YouTube Addiction
Links for the day
Links 12/11/2024: Hey Hi (AI) Failures and COP29 Fakers
Links for the day
Latest Rumours of Red Hat Layoffs
Rumours or gossip is how almost everything starts
Windows Falling to All-Time Lows and Microsoft Has Nothing to Replace It With
It's mostly Android (Linux) replacing Windows
Cybershow Has a New 81-Minute Episode on Digital Sovereignty and International Cyber-Relations
it is a high-quality show
Activism in the Digital Realm Can Never (and Must Never) Rely on GAFAM
This simply means that tech activists must completely abandon any hopes of finding allies in Google or IBM or whatever...
IBM CEO Says Donald Trump as President-Elect is Good for IBM in New Interview With CNBC
most unprincipled CEO ever?
GNU/Linux Up to 6.1% in Finland (Almost 9% If One Counts ChromeOS Too)
Home of Linux (the kernel)
BetaNews Has Become a SPAM/Slop Factory, Brian Fagioli Publishes Fake 'Articles'
everything is now suspect in BetaNews
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, November 11, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, November 11, 2024
Free Software and Love of Nature
It's not a coincidence that many Free software activists are also lovers of nature
Windows and 'The Desktop' Floundering
Microsoft should be extremely worried
WordPress is Bad for the Planet (Even If Many Still Use It)
the costs nobody wishes to talk about
Gemini Links 11/11/2024: Closed Systems and Verify You Are Human To Continue
Links for the day
Running Twitter at a Loss and Then Profiting From Trumpism
How very liberal of Jack Dorsey, the greedy "Liberal" who only prioritised money
Microsoft, Which Benefits From Donald Trump, is Normalising Donald Trump
Some people still wrongly believe that Microsoft is left-leaning
When You Upload Talks of Richard Stallman to Proprietary YouTube
Also: notice they work to abolish the word "whitelisted"
Free Software is Probably a Lot Healthier for You
Does Free software help people live longer and/or live better for longer?
Sweden: ChromeOS + GNU/Linux at 17%, an All-Time High
According to statCounter
Windows Collapsed to Only 12% of the Operating Systems Market in India, Says statCounter
Windows falls to 64% on desktops/laptops in India, dips to 12% overall
Links 11/11/2024: Mastodon Year 2 in Review, Freshworks Laying Off 13% of Staff
Links for the day
[Video] Daniel Pocock Warning About Someone Like Elon Musk Buying and Misusing Twitter Almost 7 Years Ago
Daniel Pocock spoke about Facebook and Twitter while attending the UN Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland
[Meme] It Takes Only Words to Destroy Malicious People and Pathological Liars
Trying to silence us is foolish. Boasting about this in public is worse than foolish; it's a legal liability.
Dead Blog ('Hoisted By His Own Petard')
The saying "people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones" is also applicable here
Debian Voters Clearly Supportive of Richard Stallman (Founder of GNU/Linux), But Debian Leaders Keep Giving Voting Rights to Microsoft Staff
It can be seen that the pro-Stallman positions are dominant
WordPress is Unfit for Purpose in 2024
The Web itself changed a lot and the majority of Web traffic is pure junk
[Meme] Remember That Microsoft and Trump Already Have a "Targets List"
Microsoft loves Trump bailouts
Service Notice: IRC Downtimes RESOLVED
We believe we've solved this entirely (or hope so), but it may take another week to know for sure
Linux 'Not Inclusive' 6.12 (Trumpism Inside Linux Foundation Affirmed)
They can make a codename for this release: Linux 'Not Inclusive' 6.12
The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is Dead. Cause of Death: Microsoft Bribes.
At the core, Linux Foundation and OSI adopted lies as a business model
Joan Meyer correctly linked Gideon Cody raid on Marion County Record to Kristallnacht
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Trans People Misused to Attack a Project or Developer Who Has Nothing to Do With Them
And why that truly hurts all trans people
Our 18+ Years of Freedom-Fighting
We always fight back
Gemini Links 11/11/2024: Men Losing Grip and "You're Relaxing Wrong"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, November 10, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, November 10, 2024
Nobody Knows What's in Our Fridge! Wow, Spooky!
Freedom means you can also purchase things anonymously
Freedom Must Always Be Fought For (All the Time)
Ridicule of "freedom fighters" in the digital realm is typically orchestrated by dictators or wannabes.
Gemini Links 10/11/2024: Taking Jokes and Writing Dense Assembly
Links for the day
Links 10/11/2024: Meaning of Life and iPhone ‘Inactivity Reboot’
Links for the day
Links 10/11/2024: Microsoft Adds Surveillance to Notepad and Paint, TikTok Shutdown Order
Links for the day
Gemini Links 10/11/2024: Scrawlspace and California
Links for the day
Links 10/11/2024: Politics, Economics, and Ticketmaster Issues
Links for the day
Linux Foundation: We've Shut Down the Mailing Lists and Fired Everyone at Linux.com So We Can Spend Money Buying Puff Pieces and Paying Clickfraud/Spammers
deeply rogue
The 'Other' Bruce... on Openwashing at OSI (and Not Bruce Perens, the OSI's Co-founder)
Openwashing people (connected to Microsoft) already do "open weights"
Gemini Links 10/11/2024: A Writer's Block, VIM Tips and Tricks
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 09, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, November 09, 2024
[Meme] Linux Foundation Cuts
money is spent by the million on highly dubious things
Politics Becoming Way Too 'Toxic'
'Toxic' political discourse ought to be covered, but reducing the toxicity of coverage itself (e.g. inaccurately covering things to incite "the left" and "the right") is still challenging
"Paperless Office" (Incompatible With the Law) as a Threat to Workers' Health at the EPO, Europe's Second-Largest Institution and Largest Patent Office
"Software Ergonomics need to be brought back to the agenda at a high level!"