Microsoft Briefly Overtakes Apple as Most Valuable US Company

Megalith

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While Apple is back on top with a market cap of $817B at the time of this posting, Microsoft managed to become the world’s most valuable company Friday with a $753B vs. $746B market cap. The last time Apple and Microsoft came this close was back in 2010, which suggests Nadella’s bet on cloud services and enterprise software is working.

Its cloud computing division has been the anchor for its resurgence. In its first-quarter report last month, revenue in its intelligent cloud was $8.6 billion, up 24 percent. Overall, revenue was up 19 percent at $29.1 billion, operating income increased 29 percent to $10 billion and net income surged 34 percent to $8.8 billion.
 
Azure is pulling in a lot of money for them. They've secured some pretty hefty government contracts from not only the US, but from governments around the world.
 
And what happens to MS when more and more attacks and vulnerabilities end up damaging "cloud" computing (or people finally realize how stupid it is to rely on something like this) and MS's gravy train gets derailed? This is the very reason why many people think MS is being about as stupid as possible by shooting themselves in the foot regarding the OS market and Win10. MS is basically treating the OS market as if it doesn't matter anymore with the handling of Win10. Just because it isn't the powerhouse profit center it used to be doesn't mean it's not important.
 
And what happens to MS when more and more attacks and vulnerabilities end up damaging "cloud" computing (or people finally realize how stupid it is to rely on something like this) and MS's gravy train gets derailed? This is the very reason why many people think MS is being about as stupid as possible by shooting themselves in the foot regarding the OS market and Win10. MS is basically treating the OS market as if it doesn't matter anymore with the handling of Win10. Just because it isn't the powerhouse profit center it used to be doesn't mean it's not important.

People that don't know much about the industry like to shit on 'cloud', but honestly we aren't even close yet to where we eventually will be even with all the hardware based security issues being exposed.
 
I guess THIS is the Upside-down world where the worse you treat your customers, the better you do.
 
MS is basically treating the OS market as if it doesn't matter anymore with the handling of Win10

I can imagine someone high up having wet dreams where broadband is so available and fast that every rig will simply turn on, log in, and access all features directly from their servers.
 
And what happens to MS when more and more attacks and vulnerabilities end up damaging "cloud" computing (or people finally realize how stupid it is to rely on something like this) and MS's gravy train gets derailed?
Judging by the last decade, it won't impact their bottom line at all and people will complain about it and continue to use it because they don't have realistic alternatives. There's a reason we used to bust up monopolies in the past.
 
Realize that when Apple was valued at $1 trillion that really actually meant they were worth ~$600 billion 'cause of their strictly enforced 40% profit margins. :p
 
Wow, I guess my assumptions about th emarket were way off here,

I knew Apple was up there based on recent reports, but I assumed other contenders for most valued company were the likes of Amazon, Google (well, Alphabet) and Facebook. I mostly view Microsoft as a has-been of the 80's and 90's.
 
MS is doing what is best for the survival of MS. The pivot they made was absolutely the correct one.
 
Wow, I guess my assumptions about th emarket were way off here,

I knew Apple was up there based on recent reports, but I assumed other contenders for most valued company were the likes of Amazon, Google (well, Alphabet) and Facebook. I mostly view Microsoft as a has-been of the 80's and 90's.

I felt this as well but have also joked over the last 3-5 years how M.S. seems to be emulating Apple. Seems it's working for them. I think right now it's just that all the competitors have nibbled enough of their market along with lackluster sales to create this brief moment.
 
Remember when Microsoft bailed out Apple for a measly 250 million? Wonder what they think of that now? Of course, they aren't really direct competitors, but still...
 
Wow, I guess my assumptions about th emarket were way off here,

I knew Apple was up there based on recent reports, but I assumed other contenders for most valued company were the likes of Amazon, Google (well, Alphabet) and Facebook. I mostly view Microsoft as a has-been of the 80's and 90's.

Definitely not the case. Microsoft's stock has tripled in the last 7 or 8 years.
 
Remember when Microsoft bailed out Apple for a measly 250 million? Wonder what they think of that now? Of course, they aren't really direct competitors, but still...

Didn't they do this because the Justice Department was up their ass about anti-trust shit? To show that they didn't have a monopoly they bailed Apple out. Seems to have worked out for all of them.
 
I can imagine someone high up having wet dreams where broadband is so available and fast that every rig will simply turn on, log in, and access all features directly from their servers.

well.. they wanted people to use office.. in the cloud..

companies are trying to push cloud gaming.. so your not far off.

and one day i can see the vast majority of computing happening.. on remote massive Datacenters.
 
well.. they wanted people to use office.. in the cloud..

companies are trying to push cloud gaming.. so your not far off.

and one day i can see the vast majority of computing happening.. on remote massive Datacenters.

Yeah that's the direction things are heading. I can see the appeal in it, consumers never need to upgrade their console. Developers never need to focus on specific hardware generations. If the bandwidth is there and the latency is minimal, I'd be fine with that. I'm no teenage cyborg competing in esports tourny's and needs his 0ms latency to be competitive.
 
People that don't know much about the industry like to shit on 'cloud', but honestly we aren't even close yet to where we eventually will be even with all the hardware based security issues being exposed.

yeah wait till "your" cloud data gets hacked... or someone else's hardware that had "your" info on it.
 
yeah wait till "your" cloud data gets hacked... or someone else's hardware that had "your" info on it.

And Microsoft or whomever will be 100% on the hook for that and will pay out the ass as it's written in any decent contract with Azure that Microsoft will maintain security. If you didn't put these expectations in your contract you've failed. Microsoft's livelyhood is pretty much depedent on this for Azure.

Not to mention if you've got the cash you can buy your own Azure cloud that is physically on it's own hardware if you need that level of security off the internet.
 
MS is doing what is best for the survival of MS. The pivot they made was absolutely the correct one.

BULLSHIT!!! If they knew what was best for them they would have continued development of WIN7 and kept their customers happy. I mean F**K if you've got to, just charge us $25 for DX12!!! hell even $50!? i'm sure all the gamers would be happy to have payed that verses what we are dealing w/ now! especially w/ the latest "DELETE USER FOLDER WIN 10 OCTOBER UPDATE" fiasco. Why not give us a choice of what interface we want to access your OS. Linux doesn't seem to have a problem w/ it... c'mon MS, I hope one of you knuckle heads are reading this. peace.

EDIT: and, can i get a [H]ELL YEAH!!?
 
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BULLSHIT!!! If they knew what was best for them they would have continued development of WIN7 and kept their customers happy. I mean F**K if you've got to, just charge us $25 for DX12!!! hell even $50!? i'm sure all the gamers would be happy to have payed that verses what we are dealing w/ now! especially w/ the latest "DELETE USER FOLDER WIN 10 OCTOBER UPDATE" fiasco. Why not give us a choice of what interface we want to access your OS. Linux doesn't seem to have a problem w/ it... c'mon MS, I hope one of you knuckle heads are reading this. peace.

EDIT: and, can i get a [H]ELL YEAH!!?
No, I'm inclined to agree with the other poster. Of course that's what we WANT, but doing the opposite of what customers want is often very profitable for corporations. Keeping everyone locked in on an ecosystem that requires you to connect to them is much more monetizeable.
 
BULLSHIT!!! If they knew what was best for them they would have continued development of WIN7 and kept their customers happy. I mean F**K if you've got to, just charge us $25 for DX12!!! hell even $50!? i'm sure all the gamers would be happy to have payed that verses what we are dealing w/ now! especially w/ the latest "DELETE USER FOLDER WIN 10 OCTOBER UPDATE" fiasco. Why not give us a choice of what interface we want to access your OS. Linux doesn't seem to have a problem w/ it... c'mon MS, I hope one of you knuckle heads are reading this. peace.

EDIT: and, can i get a [H]ELL YEAH!!?


Time for a new keyboard. The cap lock key seems to be malfunctioning.
 
BULLSHIT!!! If they knew what was best for them they would have continued development of WIN7 and kept their customers happy. I mean F**K if you've got to, just charge us $25 for DX12!!! hell even $50!? i'm sure all the gamers would be happy to have payed that verses what we are dealing w/ now! especially w/ the latest "DELETE USER FOLDER WIN 10 OCTOBER UPDATE" fiasco. Why not give us a choice of what interface we want to access your OS. Linux doesn't seem to have a problem w/ it... c'mon MS, I hope one of you knuckle heads are reading this. peace.

EDIT: and, can i get a [H]ELL YEAH!!?

Can't tell if sarcasm or not...seriously...if not, you will have a rough life ahead of you.
 
BULLSHIT!!! If they knew what was best for them they would have continued development of WIN7 and kept their customers happy. I mean F**K if you've got to, just charge us $25 for DX12!!! hell even $50!? i'm sure all the gamers would be happy to have payed that verses what we are dealing w/ now! especially w/ the latest "DELETE USER FOLDER WIN 10 OCTOBER UPDATE" fiasco. Why not give us a choice of what interface we want to access your OS. Linux doesn't seem to have a problem w/ it... c'mon MS, I hope one of you knuckle heads are reading this. peace.

EDIT: and, can i get a [H]ELL YEAH!!?

You do have interface choices. It's just not baked into the OS. Each Linux variant has one or two baked in interface choices, and if you want other interface choices on a particular Linux variant, you'll have to install that yourself.

The screwup could have happened on Windows 7. It's just the nature of a bad update, and is not inherent to Windows 10. It's the development team's piss poor rushed QC and QA.

Also, +1 to what everyone else already responded to you.
 
And what happens to MS when more and more attacks and vulnerabilities end up damaging "cloud" computing (or people finally realize how stupid it is to rely on something like this) and MS's gravy train gets derailed? This is the very reason why many people think MS is being about as stupid as possible by shooting themselves in the foot regarding the OS market and Win10. MS is basically treating the OS market as if it doesn't matter anymore with the handling of Win10. Just because it isn't the powerhouse profit center it used to be doesn't mean it's not important.

Nothing will kill the Cloud business, consumers and corporations are addicted and have too heavily invested into it. Your doom and gloom wasn't true in the early 2000s and it certainly isn't now. So what's the problem with Windows 10? It's the best OS I've ever used from Microsoft so far and I've used every single one they've released since MS Dos.
 
No, I'm inclined to agree with the other poster. Of course that's what we WANT, but doing the opposite of what customers want is often very profitable for corporations. Keeping everyone locked in on an ecosystem that requires you to connect to them is much more monetizeable.

but we were talking a
You do have interface choices. It's just not baked into the OS. Each Linux variant has one or two baked in interface choices, and if you want other interface choices on a particular Linux variant, you'll have to install that yourself.

The screwup could have happened on Windows 7. It's just the nature of a bad update, and is not inherent to Windows 10. It's the development team's piss poor rushed QC and QA.

Also, +1 to what everyone else already responded to you.

look i guess what i'm trying to say is that, eventually they're gonna kill off Win7 just like they did w/ XP. if they wanted to introduce a stupid tablet/touch friendly interface fine. but why try to force people to use it? why not give them the option? because who care's what interface as long as you are *using windows*??? isn't that what they want, i mean really at the bottom line?? or do they want to F'ing spy on us. is that why we are being hearded like cattle to win 10. you tell me. because w/ linux if i find a distro i like i can choose whatever desktop environment i want as long as it's compatible. idk, things get crazier by the minute these days.
 
but we were talking a


look i guess what i'm trying to say is that, eventually they're gonna kill off Win7 just like they did w/ XP. if they wanted to introduce a stupid tablet/touch friendly interface fine. but why try to force people to use it? why not give them the option? because who care's what interface as long as you are *using windows*??? isn't that what they want, i mean really at the bottom line?? or do they want to F'ing spy on us. is that why we are being hearded like cattle to win 10. you tell me. because w/ linux if i find a distro i like i can choose whatever desktop environment i want as long as it's compatible. idk, things get crazier by the minute these days.

Because it is what microsoft has been doing all along. It is just now people are loud because of the internet. Before it used to just be sys admins and tech bitching at the lunch table. The spying has been okay by most since cable companies started monitoring what channels are watched. Probably before that though.

Windows 7 was garbage when it launched too, it took quite a while to get 'accepted' by people. Now most have forgotten how much they dealt with the win7 drivers and new system restraints and compatibility issues.

My anectdotal data on this topic is most I know that complain about windows 10, don't even use a 'legal' version of windows 7. So if they aren't even a customer, no MS won't care about their opinion.


I dunno, I don't mind windows 10. Yes I hate the spying, but at the same time posting on a forum wont change it. And I just don't have the will to be mad about it anymore. Rather just play some video games or go out and do some shooting.
 
The screwup could have happened on Windows 7. It's just the nature of a bad update, and is not inherent to Windows 10. It's the development team's piss poor rushed QC and QA.
That's the whole damn point. Bad updates happen. They're inevitable. Some affect everyone, some affect a small minority of users. On Windows 7, you SKIP those updates that cause problems. If they never get resolved, you never install them. On Windows 10 that's just not an option. That's what makes it different than any other version of Windows in the past.
 
Because it is what microsoft has been doing all along. It is just now people are loud because of the internet. Before it used to just be sys admins and tech bitching at the lunch table. The spying has been okay by most since cable companies started monitoring what channels are watched. Probably before that though.

Windows 7 was garbage when it launched too, it took quite a while to get 'accepted' by people. Now most have forgotten how much they dealt with the win7 drivers and new system restraints and compatibility issues.

My anectdotal data on this topic is most I know that complain about windows 10, don't even use a 'legal' version of windows 7. So if they aren't even a customer, no MS won't care about their opinion.


I dunno, I don't mind windows 10. Yes I hate the spying, but at the same time posting on a forum wont change it. And I just don't have the will to be mad about it anymore. Rather just play some video games or go out and do some shooting.

dude i don't know what you are talking about w/ win7 drivers. personally i've never had a problem. there was one netgear wireless card (think it was a w311t or something) that i had to use vista drivers at the time but other than that win7 has been rock solid on every system i can think of. on my personal rig i have a dual boot of 7/10 and haven't even logged in to 10 in ages now that they allowed us to run Killer Instinct on 7. that was the only reason i even shelled out the $20 for a Win10 enterprise key.,

So glad i haven't logged in for a while! Otherwise i may have been hit with the october "delete all user files" bug. Holy Crykeys, mate! glad i missed that one! few! :shakes head:
 
Windows Vista was garbage when it launched too, it took quite a while to get 'accepted' by people. Now most have forgotten how much they dealt with the winvista drivers and new system restraints and compatibility issues.

FTFY

Vista was the OS that had all the problems at original release, not 7. 7 was refined to a point of being nearly perfect out of the box, so to speak, and it still is even in spite of Microsoft just wishing it would disappear forever.

Luckily, it works, better than anything else they ever created (save for maybe Windows XP Pro x64 Edition 'cause that was the fastest desktop OS I've ever used by leaps and bounds and I never had issues with it on good hardware), and I will use Windows 7 till it simply won't even boot a 'puter anymore. :D
 
So essentially, Microsoft is now making more money out of Azure running under Linux.

How ironic.
 
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