Quoted: And you know why I know [the commercials are] working? Because two weeks ago we got a call from the Apple legal department saying, hey — this is a true story — saying, “Hey, you need to stop running those ads, we lowered our prices.” They took like $100 off or something. It was the greatest single phone call in the history that I’ve ever taken in business. (Applause.)
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I did cartwheels down the hallway. At first I said, “Is this a joke? Who are you?” Not understanding what an opportunity. And so we’re just going to keep running them and running them and running them.

Quoted: Microsoft (MSFT) shares haven’t touched the $30 level in more than a year. But the stock has been rallying impressively since bottoming in the $15 range in March - can it complete the double?
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Some analysts think so. In fact, two of them this morning upped their targets on the stock to exactly $30.

Quoted: ... the Facebook Connect standard--which was rolled out first to Web developers, and then to iPhone developers--is coming to the Xbox this fall. This means that players will be able to log in with their Facebook accounts and broadcast their gaming activities on their social-network profiles.

Quoted: With Windows Live ID Web Authentication version 1.2, you can use the Windows Live ID service to verify the identity of visitors to your site, so that you can offer personalized access to your site’s content by the millions of registered Windows Live ID users.

Quoted: The contrast is startling. U.S. retail Windows PC unit sales rose 22 percent year over year in February compared with a 16.7 percent Mac sales decline. By revenue, Windows PCs posted modest 1.4 percent growth, compared with a stunning 23.3 percent Mac revenue decline. It’s not a Mac bloodbath, but massacre.

Quoted: The bridge over state Route 520, connecting Northeast 36th and 31st streets, is being planned in conjunction with Microsoft's larger campus expansion. Bloomberg reports that local planners are directing the $11 million to the project. Overall, Microsoft is contributing nearly half of the $36.5 million project cost.
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Still, Steve Ellis, vice president of Taxpayers for Common Sense, tells Bloomberg that the bridge isn't an appropriate use of the federal stimulus money: "I’m sure Steve Ballmer or Bill Gates could finance this out of pocket change. ... Subsidizing an overpass to one of the richest companies in the country certainly isn’t going to be the best use of our precious dollars."

Quoted: "Despite all of the hype that has been somewhat omnipresent with the Internet over the past couple of years, we are still fundamentally undervaluing the total proposition that it represents to society, and all the various industries that connect to it."

-- Gary Flake

Quoted: For me, Microsoft is so last century. They are not the problem. I think we’re going to continually to see a problem, potentially, with Google, who I think so far has acquired a monopoly in Internet online advertising lawfully.

Obama's antitrust pick - Christine Varney

Quoted: Microsoft has just pushed live its Release Candidate for Internet Explorer 8, the latest update to the world’s most widely used web browser. You can download it here. Unfortunately the release is only for Windows Vista, XP, and Server - if you’re trying out Windows 7 you’ll have to wait for the next OS update to try out the RC.