Quoted: Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said Monday that the Windows application platform is to be fitted with "Fluent UI" ribbon capabilities now offered in Office 2007.

This is always welcome news...

Quoted: Company officials touted rising sales in each of Microsoft's business divisions, a slate of important upcoming business-software launches and the growing contribution from sales in non-U.S. markets.

Quoted: The software maker's quarterly earnings jumped 79 percent to $4.71 billion, or 50 cents per share, from $2.63 billion, or 26 cents per share in the second quarter a year earlier. Quarterly revenue climbed 31 percent to $16.37 billion from $12.5 billion.

Vista and UAC: Apple prompts the user to enter credentials when installing new apps just like Vista does. Why is Vista the bad guy in this? You don't hear any one mention Apple's security prompts.

Any way you look at it, for users, security is a lose-lose proposition. The more you ratchet things down, the more hoops users need to jump through.

Quoted: Hansen also said that Microsoft traded general OS usability to add some of Vista's security features, such as UAC (User Account Control), and is "feeling pressure from Apple" to provide a more intuitive and user-friendly OS.

Quoted: "Now Windows is just part of the PC," Enderle said. "There are still those that admire the company and Gates, but the passion that exists around FreeBSD, Linux, and Apple simply has no analog in Windows. Great products come from passion -- when Windows lost that, it lost its heart."

I agree with this post...

Quoted: "Oh yes, MS has a cult following but not what you might think. This cult hates everything Microsoft and despises their success. If Microsoft were in the red finacially, the cult would die. Its really more jealousy and hating the guy on the top."