"There is such an overvaluation of technology stocks that it is absurd. I would include our stock in that category. It is bad for the long-term worth of the economy."

--Steve Ballmer, Microsoft

THE REPUTATION of Windows sinks even lower because of a failed advertisement campaign.

A Seinfeld-fronted TV ad, part of a series that reportedly cost Microsoft $10m and also featured Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, "failed miserably" in its goal according to the New York Times.

Also in the headlines in recent days:

i. Microsoft Employee: Time To Take a Mini-Microsoft Pause

Right now, I'm going through a long building change in perspective and simply reconsidering where I want to focus my energy and spare time (hint: writing, but not here). Also, you can only bang your head on the wall for so long without something getting knocked loose that probably needs to be put back in place.

[...]

BillG is long gone. Within our leadership, there's no one left who wants to read your ThinkWeek paper, so they're killing that off. In our future, employee-led innovation, I guess, starts at Level 68.

Microsoft needs a back-to-basics ground shaking rebalancing. And that's not going to happen with the current Senior Leadership Team.

ii. What's next for Microsoft's Flight Sim partners?

Failure to act could see Microsoft lose a familiar and successful operation to open-source and cross-platform competitors as partners drift away in search of alternatives.

iii. Microsoft search bribery machine refuses to pay up

Microsoft's search bribery machine is on the fritz. Again.

[...]

On the day after Thanksgiving, typically regarded as one of the biggest online shopping days of the year, the bribery machine buckled under the weight of too many shoppers and disappeared from the web for several hours. In some cases, users also complained that Redmond wasn't returning as much as it said it would.

More about the history of search "bribery" scandals. ⬆