Today's Outrage: Who Cares About Microsoft?
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Sorry folks, but
Microsoft
(MSFT) - Get Microsoft Corporation (MSFT) Report
ain't what it once was. The software giant is losing its edge, as we saw with yesterday's
CFO Chris Liddell whined about the "difficult" business period and tried to sound optimistic about the company's ability to "reset."
The market didn't buy it, and the shares tanked, leading to concern that the stock rally would lose steam because of Microsoft. Get over it!
We've had plenty of encouraging news from other players in the tech sector.
Intel
(INTC) - Get Intel Corporation (INTC) Report
and
IBM
(IBM) - Get International Business Machines (IBM) Report
topped estimates this month and there are many other
Amazon's
(AMZN) - Get Amazon.com, Inc. Report
earnings were a little weak, but the online retailer showed some gumption with its plan to buy Zappos.
The bottom line is that Microsoft is no longer a bellwether for the tech sector. It's just another software company that screwed up and is trying to get its act together after the debacle known as Vista.
It doesn't surprise me that about 60% of companies in a recent
TheStreet Recommends
said they have no plans to deploy Windows 7.
And despite Liddell's effort to pre-blame expected weakness at Microsoft for the rest of the year by saying conditions will "remain difficult," a
corporate IT survey
by ChangeWave shows a "dramatically improved outlook" for the third quarter.
Meanwhile, overseas stock markets pretty much ignored Microsoft and kept on gaining today. So there's no reason Microsoft should put a damper on U.S. markets today.
After all, who cares about Microsoft anymore?
Glenn Hall is the editor of
TheStreet.com
. Previously, he served as deputy editor and chief innovation officer at
The Orange County Register
and as a news manager at
Bloomberg News
in Frankfurt, Amsterdam and Washington, D.C. As a reporter, he covered business and financial markets, worked in both print and television in the U.S. and Europe, and conducted in-depth investigative coverage at
The Journal-Gazette
in Fort Wayne, Ind. His work also has been published in a variety of newspapers including
The Wall Street Journal
,
The New York Times
and
International Herald Tribune
. Hall received a bachelor's degree in journalism and political science from The Ohio State University and a certificate in project and program management from Boston University.
