Lee, good morning. Yup. I think the possibility of MSFT's death or dismemberment (I'll call it death by Linux) is now visible, though you still have to use a high power telescope to see it from here.
Try as it might, MSFT can't turn a profit in 5 of its 7 divisions. The only MSFT profit centers are the Windows monopoly and the Office monopoly. MSN, X-Box, Expedia? All losers, kept afloat with the excess profits from the monopoly divisions.
If/when IBM succeeds in strengthening Linux to the point where Windows loses its desktop OS stranglehold, MSFT will be forced into price competition in both OS and Office areas (low priced/free competitors are already starting to pressure Office from underneath). The 5 money losing divisions will have to be jettisoned somewhere along the way, leaving MSFT a shell of its former self, assuming it is able to survive as a freestanding entity.
Given the levels of distrust and distaste MSFT has engendered in its field, survival will be a matter of using its enormous cash hoard to find new and leverable technologies. It will have to do a better job of new business development than it has done for the past 10 years, that's for sure.
All mho, of course.
phill
Market Data 
Markets 
AI
