11.20.08
Microsoft 2.0: A Company of Debt
Dinosaur-isation of the ‘old’ Microsoft
It’s no secret that Microsoft has struggled for a while and probably cooked the books. It is by no means a surprise that Microsoft is entering debt, either. But it’s happening faster than most people have imagined, even without an acquisition of Yahoo!. According to this article from Bloomberg, Microsoft may sell debt.
Microsoft Corp. may sell debt in what would be the world’s largest software maker’s inaugural bond offering.
There is a summary here and also an insulting perspective from a Microsoft shareholder.
In these last eight years, I have witnessed an appalling decline in shareholder value of this extraordinary business enterprise. My personal shareholder value has been steadily destroyed both in actual and potential value.
Microsoft is at about $18 today (half its 52-week high). This came after yesterday's dive. As Todd Bishop puts it, Microsoft investors just “hang on to dream.”
For the record, it hasn’t happened yet. Microsoft shares fell with the broader market today, closing at $18.29, down more than 6.7 percent on the day.
Using what was once referred to as hypnosis, Microsoft has for many years delivered the impression of omnipotence. Like investors and their “dreams”, however, hypnosis is bound to end [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. When it’s all over it becomes apparent that scale need not guarantee survival. █
Long live Microsoft 2.0
“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
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.