Winners & Losers
US tech commentator Robert X.
Cringely recently discovered a 12 year old
microcassette tape of an interview with Bill Gates in which he says
of Apple CEO Steve Jobs, "What I can't figure out is why he is even
trying? He knows he can't win." That leads to an interesting
two-company comparison.In June, 1998 Microsoft had a market capitalization of $250 billion, Apple was worth just $6 billion. Today however;
| Microsoft is worth $240 billion, a tiny drop from 12 years ago, with the shares now around $27 (down from $29). Nothing gained in more than a decade. Apple shares, on the other hand, have gone from $7.25 to almost $240, Apple's market cap has risen more than 33X from $6 billion to $220 billion. And Cupertino's cash hoard today is almost exactly the same as Microsoft's at around $40 billion. |
PC World is New Zealand’s top selling computing and technology magazine.
Comments
exactly you get paid for? Pointless copy and paste articles and Microsoft bashing
Posted by: vivienne westwood jewellery | April 27, 2010 10:35 PM
Bashing or not, it's got nothing to do with Linux...
Posted by: Trevor | April 13, 2010 2:58 PM
Jack: I don't understand. Is this entry untrue? And how is it Microsoft bashing? How can stating simple FACTS without making any comment on them be "bashing"?
Posted by: Toby Newl | April 13, 2010 10:47 AM
I have no affiliation to, nor any real interest in Microsoft, so the "truth" does not hurt. I'm not so small that I would care so much about some peoples opinions. But I use to read PC World for it's quality articles, not this. If your happy reading such things, Toby and Grant, then buy a Womans Day.
Posted by: Jack | April 13, 2010 10:13 AM
Jack: How is this Microsoft bashing? Truth hurts, eh? And actually i found it quite interesting.
Posted by: Toby Newl | April 13, 2010 9:45 AM
Not pointless at all. It is well worth reflecting on the massive changes in the IT landscape over the decades. A great book on that BTW was "In Search of Stupidity". Where are Ashton-Tate and WordPerfect now? In summary, don't bank on what is big now being big, or even existing, in 10-15 years. The practical implication? Support standards, not vendors.
Posted by: Grant Paton-Simpson | April 12, 2010 10:55 PM
What is it exactly you get paid for? Pointless copy and paste articles and Microsoft bashing . . .
Posted by: Jack | April 12, 2010 9:22 PM