I wish them well. A healthy Windows 8 ecosystem would be good for the industry.
But it remains to be seen whether this is a blip or a recovery… E On Apr 21, 2012, at 9:21 AM, [email protected] wrote: > > > > WSJ > April 20, 2012, 4:17 p.m. EDT > > Microsoft shares return from elephant’s graveyard > > Commentary: Bodes well for other tech stocks > > By David Callaway > > LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) — > > Yahoo and AOL, take note. Sometimes there are second chances in the tech > world. > > The stunning run in Microsoft Corp. shares this year — up more than 25% > year-to-date and almost 5% on Friday after an upbeat earnings report — shows > that investors can still get excited when the big tech elephants roar. > Microsoft had been mired in the elephant’s graveyard of tech stocks for much > of the past decade, basically keeping pace with a sector still hung over from > the Internet bubble of the late 1990s while Apple Inc. and Google Inc. > stole all the sunshine. > > But younger investors may not remember that Apple itself is a turnaround > story. And while Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer may not enjoy the messiah-like > reputation that the late Steve Jobs commanded, he knows a thing or two about > running a global tech company. > > After Jobs cockily assured the crowd at the All Things D conference in > Southern California a few years ago that the introduction of the iPad and > tablet technology meant the personal computer was dead, Ballmer issued a bold > and mostly-dismissed rebuttal the next day. Arguing in part that tablets were > still PCs, just in another form, he cautioned tech enthusiasts against what > they always do — herd toward the latest technology as if nothing else would > survive. > > Microsoft’s earnings on Thursday, while not great, underscored his argument. > > Read MarketWatch’s Microsoft earnings story and MarketWatch First Take: > Microsoft shows there is still life in PCs . > > Many analysts have cited expectations for several new product offerings later > this year, including a Windows 8 rollout that is supposed to include > technology for smartphones and tablets, as the principal driver of the stock > this year. > > But the action on Friday was also in response to something unexpected in the > earnings — a surge in sales of the company’s existing Windows 7 software for > PCs. Seems the old PC market isn’t so dead after all, which bodes well not > only for other PC makers like Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Computer Inc. , > but for the corporate economy in general. > > This in itself is a big deal for tech investors. Microsoft shares are still > not above their 2007 peak before the financial crisis. > > And folks may be overly-optimistic about what Windows 8 will accomplish on > smartphones and tablets. But if a rise in sales of software for the > still-huge PC market could be a harbinger for what could be a much longer > cycle of corporate and consumer tech spending that could see the Nasdaq and > the Dow Jones Industrial Average push much higher from their already > optimistic levels. And Europe be damned. > > What this means from the other former tech darlings who have lagged over the > past few years, Cisco Systems , Intel, Yahoo, and AOL remains to be seen. But > at least it shows their managements that indeed hard work and smart > strategies can sometimes turn things around. It doesn’t have to be all > Facebook and Zynga and LinkedIn. > > The mood of the tech consumer changes with the breeze. It’s easy to forget > the old stalwarts who still account for most of the spending on tech > components and equipment as we look for more and more creative new apps to > cook our meals and do our homework. But Microsoft’s surge is a feel-good > story not just for embattled tech executives, but for the tech economy as a > whole > > > -- > Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community > <[email protected]> > Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism > Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org -- Centroids: The Center of the Radical Centrist Community <[email protected]> Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/RadicalCentrism Radical Centrism website and blog: http://RadicalCentrism.org
