News - Microsft makes its first loss ever of £313m, but should we care?

[dangel]

Hmm, I remain to be convinced - metro only becomes a selling point if (and at the moment it's a big "if" as far as I'm concerned) you see a lot of useful apps - preferably pushed by a simple to use and cheap app store.

I remember being told that Active Desktop was going to be "a major paradigm shift" and then that Vista Gadgets "would change the way we all work" - no and no. Then again, maybe Metro is MS's "third time lucky".

Plus, he says refilling his bucket with more cold water, you're assuming that phones and tablets are going to sell in bucketloads. Not a safe assumption I'd say - given that they're up against very strong Android and iOS competition. We've all seen the comments here on how much a lot of people (dangel excepted) "like" desktop Metro (ie they don't), and the XBox implementation only works well if driven by Kinect - which means it needs you standing up (I know they're working on that) and with a lot of free space to move in.

Getting back to the article - MS makes a loss - "big deal" says I. They took a gamble and it didn't pay off - so now they're writing it off. That still leaves the rest of the divisions ticking over nicely thank you very much. So at worst this is a "blip" - nothing more.

Oh, and what is it with this implication that just because IBM pulled out of the PC market, they somehow "failed". Last time I checked ole Big Blue was doing very well indeed - market conditions permitting of course.

To correct you - I like Windows 8. I can live with Metro for now. I've commented a number of times on why and also as to what I don't like about Metro atm, specifically the Start Screen (lack of logical grouping, wall of legacy apps) rather than the demo apps (which I do have to say are quite 'cool' but not in the sense I desperately want them). The point i'm trying to get across here is that Metro isn't finished and won't make sense *now* - rather that it's a slightly longer term thing for multiple platforms (and not just the desktop). Rubbishing Metro now (and for all eternity) ignores it's potential. It could go horribly wrong too but it's far too early to tell. My developer hat is interested and i'm already thinking about a Metro app for surface for our products..

[crossy]

To correct you - I like Windows 8. I can live with Metro for now.

Apologies, I stand corrected. In which case no-one (dangel included!) likes desktop Metro. It's a train that no-one wants to buy a ticket for.

[dangel]

Apologies, I stand corrected. In which case no-one (dangel included!) likes desktop Metro. It's a train that no-one wants to buy a ticket for.

Just for clarification - I wasn't being arsey so sorry if it came across that way The start screen works well enough for me now, i'm just hoping for some small improvements in next months RTM and then it's a complete non-issue for me. As for apps, well let's see what comes out..

It's really hard being a guy who likes Windows 8

[Brewster0101]

Have you seen the number of people buying Apple desktop PCs at the moment? .

Sorry no, I haven't got time to hang outside computer shops!

[Lucio]

The fact that they've sustained a loss this quarter, despite it being an acccountancy write-off, is actually worrying. It means that at least one big policy maker at Microsoft made a substaintial blunder, and as yet, doesn't seem to have paid the price for it.

Still, it's no where near a death knell yet, Windows 8 might be though, because it's moving further away from Microsoft's core business, supplying the world with a gold-standard OS which for the last 15 odd years has meant that millions upon millions of applications have mostly just worked from install.

Heck, look at the effort that goes into Linux to make it as Windows compatible as possible, because people want their applications available for use.

[Hicks12]

The fact that they've sustained a loss this quarter, despite it being an acccountancy write-off, is actually worrying. It means that at least one big policy maker at Microsoft made a substaintial blunder, and as yet, doesn't seem to have paid the price for it.
[snip]

Im confused as to how its worrying? They improved by 4%, doing better but had to write off some 6 billion after a failed investment, thats not worrying as they havent gone down they have improved. Remove the wiping of the investment would mean billions!.

[mikerr]

Yep, another way to look at is that they made £4 billion profit this quarter.

The accountants were just waiting for a good quarter to shove the 4billion aQuantive write-down into.

[crossy]

Just for clarification - I wasn't being arsey so sorry if it came across that way The start screen works well enough for me now, i'm just hoping for some small improvements in next months RTM and then it's a complete non-issue for me. As for apps, well let's see what comes out.. It's really hard being a guy who likes Windows 8

I didn't take it amiss - actually my apologies (again) for picking you up wrong. Actually I was kind of wondering whether I'm perhaps being a little over-sensitive about '8 because of the Metro farce. I used to despise Ubuntu-Unity with fervour, but the version in the latest Ubuntu edition is actually quite usable, and doesn't get in the way at all. Similarly I'm wondering if some serious time "riding the Metro" (interface) might not let me see what MS see in it. Perhaps I'm not giving it a fair shake...

[aidanjt]

A single quarter doesn't establish a pattern of any kind. If anything, it'll be Windows 8 which produces ripples.

[Mattus]

Ask a man on the street does he want Apple - yes but he probably wants an iPad/iPhone, ask him if he'd buy a Mac and show him the price and he'd probably say no it's too expensive.

Is that why Apple is one of the only manufacturers whose computer sales are actually increasing?

[Hamy144]

How much is £313m to Micrsoft?
And i dont think it will effect the consumer that much probably not at all