Subject:    Microsoft...

Regarding your post on Investor David Einhorn -- It sounds as though the shit has already hit the fan and that the investment community has finally begun to give up on Microsoft. You quoted Mr. Einhorn:

The CEO is a very smart and very wealthy man. Perhaps, he is so wealthy that he has bigger ideas and aspirations than making MSFT's shareholders wealthier. We've given up on MSFT for now as we feel better investing in companies where management at least appears to be trying to work for shareholders.

Close -- but, no cigar. The CEO may be very wealthy, but he is not very smart. Remember the question:

If you are so smart, why aren't you wealthy??

and the response:

If you are so wealthy, why aren't you smart??

The Microsoft that we see today is the logical extension of their decision to challenge the decision of Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson -- Bill Gates should have negotiated a settlement with the good Judge and the DOJ way back then.

Their policy of bundling applications with the operating system, coupled with their obfuscation of the programming craft, while limiting competition, also served to limit participation by the broader community. In short, Microsoft's primary customer is the programmer -- cut off the programmer and you cut off the programmer's customer, the ultimate user.

The situation is complicated by the fact that Microsoft's dominant position yields such humongous earnings -- and it is further complicated by the complicity of the media and it's reluctance to discuss the matter. .

The answer for Microsoft is very simple -- go back and do the job right -- re-build the PC market as it should have been done in the first place. And the most amazing thing of all is that this option is wide open for anyone willing to bite the bullet.

Would you like step by step instructions??

Doug Skoglund skoglund@pdmsb.com

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