Pride come before a fall?
Whilst it's good to see them doing well, and I really do think Bill is a welcome breath of fresh air in the company, I can't help but worry that they're setting themselves up for an almighty fall at some point in the not too distant future.
There was a time when, as a company, they were hungry to gobble up clients and ploughed all their profits back into R&D, whereas these days, you look at their figures and it's all about chasing that $4Bn target.
Hell, their gross margin for Q2 was 83% ... most other vendors are happy to make 20-30% margin!
That says to me that they're milking their customers for all they can get, and they all know it. It's only because there isn't another compelling game in town that stops them haemorrhaging clients hand over fist. But as soon as a more compelling option comes along, at a signficantly lesser cost ... that'll be the curtain call.
Will be interesting to see what the next two-three years brings.
Still, they've managed to keep me in gainful employment for the last eight to ten years, so I'm not complaining too much...
Biting the hand that feeds IT
