"@froo, you do have a point, but revenue is not profit." Fine, let's investigate that. MS's profit for: 2008 = $37.9 billion 2007 = $32.6 billion 2006 =

"@froo, you do have a point, but revenue is not profit." Fine, let's investigate that. MS's profit for: 2008 = $37.9 billion 2007 = $32.6 billion 2006 = $27.81 billion .. and so on, I can't be bothered entering in the rest of the figures, but the trend is that MS's profit aswell as revenue are increasing year over year (It will be a different tune this year, but that's because of the economic slowdown, not a business failing on MS's part). So you're wrong. They appear to give about half of this profit to their shareholders each year. "I don't know of many companies that still sell prepackaged software." You mean like Oracle, Autodesk, Adobe, Apple, SAP... should I go on? PCs will be soon surpassed by smart-phones. I don't think desktop computing will be replaced any time soon - whether that be a PC, notebook or a netbook is a different matter, but there will be room for desktop computing for a long time to come. Smartphones might have a lot going for them, but they lack the tactile feedback of a keyboard, mouse and screen combo. Almost nobody in their right mind will be using smartphones in lieu of a desktop computer for their day to day work. It's just not going to happen, sorry. "And btw ... FUD is not an incorrect statement, neither something you disagree with. FUD is an incorrect statement done with a clear intent to discredit a competitor" Actually, FUD is not necessarily used to discredit competitors as it has a much broader use in language today. Individuals (or organisations) who spread untrue, inaccurate or poorly researched information knowingly with the intent of discrediting an organisation or person can be said to be spreading FUD. It's even more apparent when somebody does it with a clear bias (which you obviously have a general negative bias with MS, despite you using .net), sort of like propaganda, because if you had spent 2 or 3 minutes to look at MS's annual reports, you would see your argument is wrong. "I do have the tendency to check my assumptions from time to time" Just not this time, not even in the slightest bit.