Microsoft "not having an annus horribilis", honest

GOLLY, Microsoft executives can be dull, and today Jean Philippe-Courtoise, president of Microsoft International, excelled in innovating boredom like it's never been innovated before.

The fun didn't start until Alex Vieux, who started Etre, pinned this particular chief Vole down and asked him some tough questions.

Vieux started by reminding Courtois of the Queen's "annus horribilis", and asked him whether Microsoft was having one of those annuses. Courtois said this was Microsoft's best year ever.

Vieux said Microsoft stock has hardly moved in the last five years, it's shipped product late, and the buzz is for Google, not for the Vole. Microsoft is following Apple with the Zune. What reason had Courtois to be optimistic?

This brought a round of spontaneous applause from the 500 plus senior executives who had been stunned to silence by Courtois' Powerpoint slides.

Yes, said Courtois, some products will be shipping late, but over the last four years the CAGR has been about 12 per cent which is not too bad compared to many companies in the sector.

Curtois talked up Microsoft's servers and tools business, like SQL Server. Vole is selling more SQL Server than DB2 or Oracle together at the low end and at the high end.

Vieux wanted to know why with a six billion dollar R&D budget, Microsoft had to follow everyone's lead and come out with products which didn't work properly first time round. Courtois said Microsoft doesn't get it right every time, but cited some examples of success, like instant messaging.

Microsoft invests over $6 billion annually in research and development, Courtois claimed. What the heck does it spend all that money on? We recall that at an Etre three years ago, chairman Bill Gates said that Vista cost more to develop than the first trip to put a man on the moon. And Vista hasn't even landed yet! Sheesh.