Hi there

I think the Markets have already factored that in -- Ms has a LOT of other places where it earns money.
Here's the Graph of MSFT over the last 3 monthe --I've added a reasonable "Trendline" in Green - and this is at a time due to World situation - Syria, Libya, Israel, Russia/Ukraine etc, Feds reducing "Quantitive Easing" in US (reducing the money they feed in), problems in the EURO ZONE, etc when the Markets are quite volatile.

Apple IMO is in more danger - hence its tie up with IBM to get a foothold in the corporate marketplace. Ms provides a huge amount of business services. Also introducing new products can be a costly business but they'll get it right in the end --at least that's the Market sentiment.

Cheers
jimbo

Hi there

I have to agree that the LOW end stuff isn't worth selling if you are going into this market however decent convertibles will suit many more people than you think.

Most Laptops that you see on sale today are really "Sad" antiquated looking models -- often heavy and with 15 - 16 inch screens with poor 1366 X 768 resolution. OK they might be very cheap but they are a PIG to lug around.

The SP3 device is great for travellers even if it IS expensive -- new products always are expensive and early adopters always pay "over the odds". I was an early adopter when the first HOME CD players came out -- in todays money that would be around 2000 USD for an "average" domestic CD player -- today it's JUNK and it went to "The Council Tip" a long time ago.

I think decent convertibles ARE the way to rescue a part of the laptop market -- not for everyone but definitely a Market is there - - Lenovo is also in the game but their current model is a bit "Cack handed" to use.

The older SP2 stuff and yes having the low end SP3 doesn't make much sense to me either --if you are going for a niche market then do it properly.

Of course the whole of Ms was a bit screwed up under the reign of Ballmer. The ship's being steadied now (rather than the shi- is flying out of the fan!!).

As I said the Markets view is that Ms isn't in any danger either now or in the imminent future.

Cheers
jimbo

Hi there

Ms stock still "In the Green" today up a bit. The Markets seem re-assured. I wouldn't worry about the early demise of Ms. There's plenty of REAL problems to deal with.

However bear in mind that a decent Blu Ray rip at full 1080p HD can be done to MP4/MKV in about 1.3 GB - still gives Streets ahead better quality than a standard Dual Layer commercial DVD (standard play - around 7 GB usually) so it means you can take about 40 HD quality movies with you or literally HOURS and HOURS of music even compression free as FLAC files. I often store these temporarily on the separate micro SDHC card on a PHONE - and plug that into a USB device and play the movies from there !!! or copy temporarily the movie you need to play.

You don't actually lose external USB HDD's in practice --smaller ex laptop drives or those passport 2 TB one's have more than enough data capacity and fit easily into the carrying case --remember these SP3's are used essentially ON THE ROAD. I agree though internal capacity of just 64GB is too small -- plenty of SSD's available at sensible prices of 120 and 256 GB now.

Cheers
jimbo