Microsoft has been sitting on a cash pile of $56 billion and last week the company took analysts’ advice and decided to return some of that money to shareholders over the next four years and to buy back stock. While the decision is a lesson in pragmatism and fiscal responsibility, Microsoft’s end users have a few choice ideas of what the company could have used the cash for, disregarding any Securities and Exchange Commission regulations, of course.
Here’s a look, in no particular order of importance, at what some say Microsoft could spend lavishly on.
Security and patch management are on the list of many users. “My colleagues and I are battling Windows patches monthly,” says Kirk Yamamoto, senior systems analyst for the city of Los Angeles. He says Microsoft recently held an informative security summit in Anaheim, “but I still think they could do more for security. And Microsoft wonders why enterprise IT managers are interested in Linux on the desktop.”
Rewriting Windows from the ground up would be a good place to spend some big bucks, according to Jeff Allred, manager of network services for the Duke University Cancer Center in Durham, N.C. “I would like Microsoft to revamp their entire programming structure to ensure that no software bugs get to shrink-wrap products. Is this a lot to ask for? Yes. Is this too much to ask for? Not in my opinion.” Allred says the anti-Microsoft camp might be left speechless if Chief Software Architect Bill Gates, said, “OK, we’ve made enough money, now let’s not release another product until our engineers certify it’s 100% bug/vulnerability-free.”
An acquisition could be the only answer if Microsoft can’t get its act together on delivering products on time, says Jim Cimino, president of Bright Ideas Software in Edison, N.J. “The obvious answer would be to invest in the talent to deliver everything that they promise. We have suffered productivity and financial losses climbing well into the billions of dollars. We are not looking for restitution, but retribution. Just make it work, Bill. Make it work! And if you can’t, purchase IBM.”
Some say another good investment would be in the hearts and minds of end users. “They should hire a good PR firm to win back the minds of the corporate space that they are losing out on. I don’t know one IT leader who isn’t trying to reduce or eliminate their Microsoft allotment. This isn’t all in the small to medium enterprise space,” says Nigel Fortlage, vice president of GHY International in Winnipeg, Canada.
Maybe the place to start should be a large investment in a more defined product road map, says Casey Winkel, lead application specialist for a large software development company he asked not be named. “I would love to see Microsoft improve their communication methods concerning future products and direction,” he says. “A little investment in time, money and technology would go a long way with this issue.”
For some, Microsoft should try to fix IT issues in small and definable increments. “I would like to see Microsoft establish a compatibility database of applications by category and industry,” says Mark Moroses, senior director of technical services and security officer at Maimonides Medical Center in New York. “One location where IT people could verify that applications are compatible with operating systems, but more important with [operating system] components, such as the Mdac.dll file [for SQL] access.”
With $56 billion, however, Microsoft should invest in the future, not only of the high-tech industry but potentially every industry, says James Raab, assistant director of information services for Tenet Healthcare in Santa Barbara, Calif. “Why not finance education,” Raab says, adding that Microsoft’s billions could provide the resources to create the engineers and software developers to carry the industry forward. But why stop there. “Why not bail out the farmers, steel workers, auto workers and other industries that have been displaced by advances in technologies and moved abroad.” (Editor’s note: Gates has said the $3.3 billion he will receive on his stock dividends will be donated to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.)
Philanthropy is all well and good, but some say Microsoft should keep its coffers pointed at the software. “They need to rewrite [Internet Explorer] and make it secure or securable. The Web is reliant on the functionality of the browser,” says Michael Maszczenski, senior network analyst for Anne Arundel County Public Schools in Annapolis, Md.
Another good target are the malcontents, hackers and bad guys that help hang the dark clouds over Microsoft software, says Sean Sheil, manager of network and server services at Northwest Missouri State University in Maryville. “First, track down all virus/Trojan/worm writers, purchase an island at the South Pole and let them spend their time trying to survive instead of writing code.”
And finally, some say Microsoft should look closer to home if it wants to reduce its cash pile. “It would be nice if somehow Microsoft could use this money to help us change our way of life. We’ve been to Redmond often, and we can tell you it’s horrible how many cars are stuck in traffic in Seattle . . . There’s a better solution, and we need to focus on it. Just switching to hybrid cars would be a major change,” say Nelson and Danielle Ruest, co-authors of Windows Server 2003: Best Practices for Enterprise Deployments.
Senior Editors Deni Connor and Jennifer Mears contributed to this story.
