My Way Finance

My Way Finance: "The long-delayed launch of the Windows Vista computer operating system hurt fiscal second-quarter profits at Microsoft Corp., which reported a 28 percent drop in earnings Thursday despite revenue growth that exceeded forecasts.
In the last three months of the year, earnings fell to $2.63 billion, or 26 cents per share, from $3.65 billion, or 34 cents per share, during the same period last year.
Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected the Redmond, Wash.-based software maker to post 23 cents per share.
Revenue rose to $12.5 billion, a 6 percent gain from $11.8 billion in the year-ago quarter. Analysts were expecting just shy of $12.1 billion.
'Overall, it was a strong quarter,' said Robert Breza, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets.

Microsoft shares fell 64 cents, or 2.1 percent, to close Thursday at $30.45 on the Nasdaq Stock Market, ending an uneven day in which the stock also hit a 52-week high of $31.48. In extended trading after the earnings release, the stock was trading at $31.
Although Windows Vista and Office 2007, the latest editions of Microsoft's flagship products, do not hit the consumer market until Tuesday, they have been available for businesses since Nov. 30, two-thirds of the way through the company's second quarter.
Even so, Microsoft's 'client' division, responsible for Windows, posted a 25 percent drop in sales to $2.59 billion. And the business division, which includes Office, saw a 5 percent drop to $3.51 billion."