Microsoft Corporation Message Board
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For instance, the Australian dollar goes up or down with commodity prices. But it also goes up or down with inflation and up or down with economic growth and up or down with central bank interest rates. In fact A$ was up during mine construction and is now down with mines simply operating.
For the bitcoin to be a floating currency, the relevant economic measures should be known.
If the bitcoin were pegged to the dollar then it would just be a payment method. But in that case, the number of bitcoins would be unlimited and the definition of the bitcoin would have changed ?
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To me a bitcoin should be that one server network takes internet load off another server network and earns bitcoins for it. Then that server network has bitcoins to pay when internet load is taken off it.
But bitcoins are never explained like that and so I don't understand them.
In any case, the solution would be to determine the underlying value of the bitcoin and then peg it to the dollar. With a peg to the dollar then they could be bought and sold using a small bid/ask spread.
Without a peg to the dollar then the bitcoin is something to avoid.
A bitcoin not pegged to the dollar and not based on internet server data loads ? Well, someone on the black market might be willing to pay double for goods and then bitcoins go up. However, that's a bet on the black market rather than a currency trade
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It's official: Tablets outsold PCs and notebooks in UK in Q1. M$ is toast
by phands.theheretic6 •May 16, 2013 6:16 PMSome of the tablets are PC's and some are not.
If the tablet has an ARM processor then it has a browser-based operating system. That's a thin-client.
If the tablet has an X86 processor then it probably has an operating system that allows installation of applications that can run without an internet connection. That's a PC.
But going forward, I'm not sure about any of the ARM tablets because add cellular service to them and that's a smart-phone.
An example of a PC tablet could be a photographer using Photoshop. Just chose the table over the laptop
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Forbes: Why I Prefer PC Convertibles Over Traditional Notebooks
by wallisweaver •May 16, 2013 3:26 PMIf he could use a thin-client iPad in the first place then he probably doesn't need a PC.
A PC can run major applications like Photoshop, Autocad, and the full version of Office.
A think-client on the other hand mostly just runs browser-based applications
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It's PC versus thin-client.
A thin-client requires an internet connection for much of its application.
A PC will run major applications without being connected to the internet.
A PC can have Windows, Mac, Unix, Linux, or other operating systems.
A thin-client can have Windows RT, iOS, Android, or other operating systems
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Stock buybacks increase earnings per share and thus fundamentally produce a stock price higher than it would have been otherwise.
But long term holders of the stock have no tax to pay as long as they keep holding.
One problem is that there is no financial reporting of how much of the buyback is for the purpose of grants to the employees.
Another problem is using debt for the stock buybacks where the principal on the debt is never repaid but just rolled over into new debt.
Do we want to issue debt to pay the employees ?
I suppose we arrive at a theory that dividends go to the stockholders and buybacks go to the employees.
But do we want to issue debt to pay the dividends ?
Don't worry about the next 30 years ? Yeah, just kick-the-can-down-the-road
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The technology companies used to be zero debt.
Now they are floating debt to pay dividends. But corporations in general never repay the principal on the debt but just roll it over into new debt. See where that is headed ? It's kick-the-can-down-the-road.
The best technology companies that can be found are the ones with the smallest dividends.
Now why are the technology companies floating debt to pay dividends ? It's because much of their cash is held overseas. If they bring the cash home then the U.S. government wants to tax it for a second time.
That brings us back to dividends in general. A company pays dividends from money that it has already paid tax on. Then the investor receiving the dividend pays tax on the money again. (But REITS and business-development-companies don't pay tax on dividends that they pay out.)
The bottom line is that as an investor, you shouldn't want dividends but just stock buybacks. However, most stock buybacks are just for the stock options that they give to the executives. (And they are issuing debt for the stock buybacks ?)
Now, go and have a very good day
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Win NT did not have DOS has its foundation and therefor was very much like Unix but with a Win front on it. Then Win XP and Win 7 were based on NT.
Win 8 follows this line but has techniques faster than a simple loop for handling the gestures and screen refresh. Win 8 is more complex and risky and demands more of the hardware performance
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Someone said "Duh, the hedge funds are selling gold and buying stocks".
Okay, but WB said that the end of QE would be one of the shots-heard-around-the-world and that was referring to the stock market
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MS is doing everything first as the PC level ?
Yeah, the iPad is a thin client, the Surface is a thin client, while the Surface Pro is a PC.
The Samsung ATIV 500t and 700t are PC's.
The HP Envy x2 is a PC.
The HP Elite Pad 900 is a PC
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Even though Win 7 and Win 8 work differently under the hood. And even though Win 8 probably eats up more of the hardware and more of the internet bandwidth. A dual-purpose Win 8 will probably be good enough.
I like the idea of two operating systems better and wondered what Apple was going to do. But MS is doing everything first here at the PC level.
The next step is to change Surface to quad-core Atom.
As for Win 8 Phone, it fights Blackberry for the number 3 mobile platform
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Basically, I did think that the drop in the gold price would be slower than the pace of writing covered calls. I thought that because of the stock market levels holding.
But the gold miners are now saying that they will just concentrate of higher margin projects and not worry about less production.
So I would say that the gold price floor is $1250. And something around $1350 did recently hold. But if I say $1250 then $1000 is probably possible
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One hedge fund has a customer talking to the press and the fund is down just like the gold price.
Another hedge fund says that they were surprised by the drop in the price of gold.
But the quick drop in the amount of gold held by the ETF's can only explained by hedge fund selling.
Now the hedge funds may have a loss for the year but they might have a gain when looking across several years.
Also, central banks buying their own debt should produce inflation and a high gold price. But the central bank actions are only avoiding de-flation. So the support for gold should have been mild all along and the bigger problem is that de-flation will begin when the central banks pull in their activities.
So the gold market is pulling back in anticipation of the end of quantitative easing. The question is, why isn't the stock market also pulling back ?
The market for government bonds doesn't get any easier. The end of QE is the end of the government buying its own bonds. So the government bonds would have less support. However, if de-flation begins with the end of QE then deflation would support government bonds.
The stock market is a little easier. If QE ends before the economy goes through the roof then stocks will drop
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MSFT will bring back Windows 7 and name it Windows Blue
by everyloser99 •May 7, 2013 10:57 AMNo, Win 8 fundamentally works differently from Win 7.
Win 7 has a loop checking for mouse clicks and other events. That's too slow of a method for the touch gestures. However, Win 8 is much more complex and risky than Win 7.
The Win 8 foundation is simply not needed on non-touch screen computers
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Did anyone use Reader XI to do their taxes ?
The program loads slower than previous versions.
When "Save" is chosen it essentially kicks to "Save as" probably because it also offers "Save to Online Account"
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MSFT will bring back Windows 7 and name it Windows Blue
by everyloser99 •May 7, 2013 10:57 AMNo, Win Blu is Win 8 with configurations added.
If it were Win 7 then it would be a lean-mean-fighting-machine
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A Skype phone will just plug into a cable modem. But the Skype phone is also suppose to plug into the landline system so they are not a complete VOIP service.
Skype might be a business of selling phone numbers. A Skype number can be bought for about $60 a year and then add call forwarding to that. That's not even using the free web-based Skype system. Of course the same thing can be done with a pay-as-you-go mobile phone service and that's about $100 a year including call forwarding.
Of course the consumer can just use the free web-based Skype system. That doesn't require a number but just a Skype account with a user name
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There are a few problems.
MSFT is up because of its bond issue. INTC did the same thing. Now APPL is doing one. These companies can borrow at low rates but they never pay on principal but just roll it over into a new bond. Rolling over in the future could be at high rates.
Next, the stock markets are at a high but government bonds are also high. Previously, when the stock market was up then government bonds were down. Something has changed.
ORCL is down and down on sequestration. And all of these tech companies have large sales to the Federal government. It just hasn't hit yet. But the air traffic controllers just got excluded from the budget cuts.
NOK got hit hard on results. Isn't that Windows 8 Phone ?
PC sales are down but MSFT is selling upgrades from XP to Win 7. But again some of that will be slowing sales to the Federal government. -
They made the earnings.
But they've cut capital spending and that includes exploration.
And one of the possible outcomes in Chile is to suspend the project.
They basically need the project in Chile or else their plan for higher margins has no place to go. -
There's an article that says that ABX would have $2.08 in earnings per share at $1300 an ounce for the gold price.
That seems a little low to me but $18 a share divided by $2.08 in earnings would be a P/E ratio of 8.65.
But then ABX wants to sell its gold mines in Africa, wants to sell its gold mines in western Australia, and wants to sell its oil company. Basically, they would reduce earnings to pay down debt and have a higher profit margin. Then the market simply has to give it a higher P/E ratio in exchange for the higher profit margin.