[ Thanks to Kelly
McNeill for this link. ]
“Not long ago, a Wall street analyst stated that ‘The day
Microsoft pays a dividend is the beginning of the end for the
company’. Shortly after that, Microsoft paid its first
dividend.“So what does this have to do with Linux? Those who claim Linux
will never unseat MS Windows as the dominate computer operating
system point to Microsoft’s huge cash hoard as a major reason. With
nearly 60 billion dollars sitting in the bank, they say, Microsoft
can undercut and outlast any competition. If Microsoft was a
privately held corporation, this might be true; but as recent
history has demonstrated, life in the publicly traded world is a
little different…”