A pretty bold move and one big chunk of money and this is the second one, as they already completed the first round of 40 billion.  Perhaps someday it could be a full privately owned company as time moves on?

Besides the internet here as there is so much more going on at Microsoft other than control of the web, although it’s a huge market by all means and Microsoft wants to maintain their share, but it’s kind of been that way from the beginning too.  They just sit back and work on their R and D and software developments and keep moving forward.  One area where the focus has been is in enterprise solutions, an area where Microsoft has been for years, and fairly new to Google with all respect and we all need competition to keep things moving, no doubt about that. 

I just posted about the new HPC Server today and again, without any real technology background, this has no meaning to the average person, but if you understand code and how it works, this is huge.  I attend meetings at Microsoft to stay on top of what is happening and, yes, even though I don’t code much any more, I still have my installation of Visual Studio alive and well, and there is nobody else that has a kit of tools that would compare, tools that developers use to build applications that run on Windows, the web, and now include languages and the processes to include Silverlight.

Again, to the average person who doesn’t understand code and technology this would mean nothing, but the first Server 2008 meeting I attended was by far the most eye opening and progressive product to hit the market in years.  I was sitting there and perhaps getting a bit sleepy, and it only took a few words to wake me up, increased bandwidth with a 64 bit machine, baked in virtuals a configurable firewall and the availability of a bare bones installation.  I had sat through other launches, server 2003 for one, and when introduced, yes it was nice, had some new neat features, but nothing like Server 2008, which is basically a new breed of servers altogether.  

Something else too that is very favorable about Microsoft is that they share.  There’s nobody else out there that gives away the amount of software by comparison.  You can even take this to another level with donations and charity care, lets’ say Gates versus Icahn? Everybody is pretty much aware of the Gate Foundation and the commitment it has to healthcare.

Perhaps this announcement today on Wall Street with announcing the fact that Morgan Stanley has been working with and evaluating will stir a little more interest.  image

Also in the news today:

Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) has opened the doors of its $550 million, 477,000-square-foot data center in San Antonio, the company announced Monday. The new data center is one of a network of massive facilities being built to support Microsoft's push to offer cloud services, and will help host a number of applications such as Hotmail, Microsoft.com, and Windows Live Messenger.Microsoft is building several other data centers, including one in Chicago that will use shipping containers filled with servers, and another in Iowa announced last month.

New Lab in Cambridge MA

Microsoft Corp. has opened the doors to its Cambridge, Mass., research and development lab, its first on the East Coast. Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is looking to tap the area’s mix of science, sociology and business minds to come up with future Internet business models and applications.  Much of the work performed by the lab’s 30-odd researchers and student interns will be aimed at technology “10, 15 years down the road, minimum,” Chayes said.

It just that people don’t understand technology and what they do for the most part and they quiet just keep doing what they do. They also have a pretty big investment in genomics and personalized medicine as well.  BD

REDMOND, Wash. — September 22, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today announced that its board of directors approved a new share repurchase program authorizing up to an additional $40 billion in share repurchases with an expiration of September 30, 2013.

The board of directors also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.13 per share, reflecting a two cent or 18 percent increase over the previous quarter’s dividend. The dividend is payable December 11, 2008 to shareholders of record on November 20, 2008. The ex-dividend date will be November 18, 2008.

In addition, the company stated that it has completed its previous $40 billion stock repurchase program. Microsoft has returned over $115 billion to shareholders through a combination of share repurchases and dividends over the last five years.

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/sep08/09-22dividend.mspx

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