Microsoft's earnings down on slow Windows sales, Surface RT bust

Microsoft really screwed up on Surface

I think Windows on a tablet is a compelling experience that offers the best of both worlds. There are an ever increasing number of tablet / hybrids which demonstrate that given the right cpu (e.g. Haswell or Atom processor) and form factor that Windows works. Sadly for Microsoft the Surface range isn't amongst them.

Surface RT - runs a gimped OS which is neither fish nor foul and has crap performance

Surface Pro - runs proper Windows on i5 but runs hotter than the surface of the sun and is not so much a tablet as a slab.

Both suffer from being very expensive

Both suffer from having a stupid kickstand which doesn't bear comparison to stiff hinge alternatives

So this article is based on the premise that the august body that is 'Yahoo! Finance' has any clue about what Microsoft should be earning. I'd like that they were earn 100Bn but my preferences don't count. Their numbers were up at a time when they've launched a slew of product in the face of an astoundingly hostile press and their revenue are up. Just not as much as some lard arse in an office someplace wanted to make up. Oh, and that august institution is part of a company headed by a person who used to work for a company that used to see Microsoft as enemy number one (I imagine that title has passed to Samsung now). No scope for bias there then.

No change

The numbers MS released yesterday aren't much different to the previous quarter and year, up a bit if anything, and until the revenue and earnings figures go seriously and consistently down then Steve's job is safe.

Financial analysts are not much better than the woad-covered druids who haruspexed chickens to figure out who was going to win the next big fight the tribe was getting set for.

Has Redmond lost touch with consumers? : What touch with consumers?

As has been ppinted out, all you need to know is in the numbers. Microsoft has succeeded by ruthlessly exploiting it's Windows/OS monopoly. Where they can still do this, in the corporate drone market, they are doing well. In the consumer market where there's a huge swathe of Android products and iOS they are floundering.

Microsoft is renowned for take 3 goes to finally come up with something competitive. Because of their market muscle with Windows they had the time to do that. Nowadays they don't have that luxury.

From the company that brought you

plays for sure, zune, ms-dos 4, windows ME, the secure internet experience that was ie6, activex and Vista

Botched OS upgrade and junk hardware product. What is new?

Despite all that, they keep staggering on. How does that happen? That's the story

Suicidal tendencies

Despite all his efforts, Mr. Ballmer wasn't able to kill MS yet... I've no doubt he will continue trying in the next years.

Here's a hint for Microsoft to improve bottom line :

Charge NSA for direct access to Outlook and Skype. Diversify this by offering access to Exchange servers inside corporate networks and installing key loggers on desktop and laptop PCs.

What can I say, people are unreasonable. They don't want spying on.

It's microsoft "turn your customers into a product" at its very worst.

Ballmer! It's the Econo UI stupid!

Never give a monkey...

...the keys to the banana plantation.

The end result is always 'no bananas'.

Stevie seems to have forgotten some sage advice from a cartoon:

Remember: Captain Scarlet is indestructible. YOU are not.

MicroKlunk aka The Devil in Redmond is getting what's due

When you steal lie and cheat you lose!

Payback hurts like _ell doesn't it Stevie Weenie balmer?

I told you Surface tablets were going to flop

Only the most deluded Microsoft fanboys and shills couldn't see it coming.

And Surface Pro isn't going to do much better. It already lost to competing Windows tablets/hybrids on price and features. And if those Win8 devices are not selling well... what hope is there for Surface Pro?

Next thing to flop: Windows phones. It's the domino effect. Or should I say Metro tile effect?

P.S: No reorg at Microsoft is going to work unless Ballmer first removes himself as CEO. Rearranging deck chairs won't save the Titanic from sinking.