Sunday, February 03, 2008

Portals - WSJ.com

From an article titled "Culture of Worry Guides Microsoft in Yahoo Bid":

However doubtful it is that Microsoft's anti-Google offensive will actually work, Redmond's bid for Yahoo is a reminder of why the company is one of capitalism's greatest success stories. Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer and their crew can always be counted on to worry about the portion of the glass that is one-fourth empty.

Two weeks ago, Microsoft issued the sort of quarterly report usually seen of a company in finest mettle. Despite the conventional wisdom that expensive packaged software is becoming obsolete in a Webified world, and even with its new Vista operating more of a punch line than a flagship, Redmond's sales were up 15% and profit double that, excluding certain deferrals. And the rest of the year, it projected, would be just as sanguine -- certainly unlike in the economy as a whole.

Elsewhere, that would be a mandate for staying the course. In Redmond, though, they were crossing off days on their calendars, waiting until Friday, the first day of February and thus the first opportunity Microsoft would be able to truthfully state, "OK, Yahoo, it's been a year since we talked to you guys; where's the beef?"

Portals - WSJ.com

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