Someone who makes an enormous salary but is only a brief period of unemployment away from foreclosing on their palatial house and having their Porsche repossessed?
So, in this part of your analogy, it seems Microsoft is the company you're comparing to a person that is ready to have their possessions repossessed. Is that right? If so, I humbly invite you to look at the facts regarding Microsoft. Microsoft's most recent quarter saw literally record revenue and they blew away everyone's profit expectations.
Microsoft wasn't always so prudent with its money. I was meaning to compare to when Microsoft's favorite thing to do with cash was to burn it. Remember Skype?
I wouldn't be surprised if this (welcome) new strategy isn't at least partially inspired by observing how Apple does things.
What is this Skype thing you speak of? I can't tell if that's the burning of cash or planting a tree... since that business unit will likely be decent on paper until it becomes pretty great on paper. I mean who would be using some voice/video calling software over their existing data connections instead of paying for per-minute land line rates through their telco's?
Also, for enterprise & institutions using Exchange, many seem to be loving Lync, etc. for IM+ services. Skype seems like a decent long-term play. Also, good for the IP.
So, in this part of your analogy, it seems Microsoft is the company you're comparing to a person that is ready to have their possessions repossessed. Is that right? If so, I humbly invite you to look at the facts regarding Microsoft. Microsoft's most recent quarter saw literally record revenue and they blew away everyone's profit expectations.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-01-23/microsoft-s-second-...
Microsoft also has more cash on hand than the U.S Government:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/microsoft-starting-hoard-cash-...