Microsoft in first loss to date

Computing giant Microsoft has made the first quarterly loss in its history after it wrote off some of the value of its online advertising business.

The loss came after it wrote down the value of Aquantive by $6.2bn (£3.94bn; 5bn euros), which failed to bring the profits expected by Microsoft.

That led to a $492m loss in the three months to the end of June, compared with a profit of $5.9bn a year ago.

The company has not made a loss since it joined the stock market in 1986.

It took over Aquantive in 2007 but it struggled to compete with rival Google.

Microsoft paid $6.3bn for Aquantive.

Microsoft is doing well in other areas, despite the decline in popularity of its Windows operating system, which dominated the personal computer market for years.

Revenue for the three months to June rose by 4% to $18.06bn.

Mosaic

Excluding the adjustment for the asset write-down, and the holding back of some income related to the launch of its Windows 8 system, Microsoft profits beat those expected by investors.

Shares were up 1.6% after the results were announced.

Microsoft says the update of the Windows systems is the most important redesign in more than 10 years.

Windows 8, which will launch in October, will feature a new look that will present applications in a mosaic of tiles.

Importantly, it will also enable the operating system to work on tablet computers, which along with smartphones are the fastest-growing sector of the computing market.

Microsoft is also planning to release its own tablet, the Surface.

Earlier this week, Microsoft previewed its next version of the Office system, which is expected to be released next year.

SimonAndal: To those of you shouting Apple, they didn't lose to Apple, in fact their OS has 92+% of the market. They lost to Google's Ad system. They made a bad investment in Aquantive.

Ajillo: Microsoft did themselves in. Vista was a failure. Word 2007 is very unpopular and explorer is no no.Instead of building on available features, their new versions became very difficult to understand and operate. Many people today still use word 2003 instead of the new version 007. Explorer is very slow and you can easily lose your write in online fora like Nairaland. So we go to firefox.

Ajillo: Microsoft did themselves in. Vista was a failure. Word 2007 is very unpopular and explorer is no no.Instead of building on available features, their new versions became very difficult to understand and operate. Many people today still use word 2003 instead of the new version 007. Explorer is very slow and you can easily lose your write in online fora like Nairaland. So we go to firefox.

SimonAndal:
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1. Have you been living under a rock? Or maybe you're still on Windows 98, but the latest version of Office is Office 2010.
2. And I don't know who taught you English, or your SSCE score, but I'm pretty sure use plural of forum is forums. We are not in a Latin class here, sorry.

SimonAndal:
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1. Have you been living under a rock? Or maybe you're still on Windows 98, but the latest version of Office is Office 2010.
2. And I don't know who taught you English, or your SSCE score, but I'm pretty sure use plural of forum is forums. We are not in a Latin class here, sorry.

SimonAndal: I never said it's not. It's correct if we're speaking latin.

SimonAndal: I never said it's not. It's correct if we're speaking latin.

Mystiqme:
Fora is a correct English word included in many English dictionaries.

TroGunn: I see microsoft taking on and maybe even taking out the current IOS and Android kings in the mobile space. Can't wait for the Surface to launch.