it seems.

The stock was basically flat since 2000 or so (for lots of reasons) - https://www.google.c...nce?q=NASDAQ:MSFT

I'm not sure they're a "ludicrously effective money-maker" any more - http://www.microsoft...4/Q2/default.aspx

Devices and Consumer revenue grew 13% to $11.91 billion.

· Windows OEM revenue declined 3%, reflecting strong 12% growth in Windows OEM Pro revenue, offset by continued softness in the consumer PC market.

[ There are about 30 SKUs for Winders - "Pro" is just one. And MS always massages Winders revenue that they recognize ]

· Surface revenue more than doubled sequentially, from $400 million in the first quarter to $893 million in the second quarter.

[ After the huge writedown for Surface stuff earlier, one would expect revenue to rise sequentially ]

· The company sold 7.4 million Xbox console units into the retail channel, including 3.9 million Xbox One consoles and 3.5 million Xbox 360 consoles.

[ Units, not revenue here. ]

· Bing search share grew to 18.2% and search advertising revenue grew 34%.

[ Meh. These numbers can be fudged, too. How much did the search advertizing industry grow? ]

Commercial revenue grew 10% to $12.67 billion.

· SQL Server continued to gain market share with revenue growing double-digits.
· System Center showed continued strength with double-digit revenue growth.
· Commercial cloud services revenue more than doubled.

[ To what level? ]

· Office 365 commercial seats and Azure customers both grew triple-digits.

[ What about revenue? ]



No mention of Phone in that earnings press release, of course.

Ballmer was handed a golden goose in 2000. He acted as if anything MS did would automatically dominate. MS was doing tablets in 2001 - they were expensive and not very appealing because MS was trying to shoehorn Winders into doing that job. And they still couldn't get it right with Winders 8 when it was released 11 years later. And Zune couldn't compete with the iPod/iTunes. Even the very damaged Sony is still able to compete with their gaming console. And so forth. He didn't run MS into the ground, but he could have done so much more for the company and for its customers. Instead, their hubris let Apple (and others) drank their milkshake.

Cheers,
Scott.