The news is somewhat less disastrous in that it's because Microsoft had to write down a purchase they made a while ago. So they didn't lose money this quarter so much as acknowledge that they had previously lost a lot of money and put that on their books this quarter.
What's really disastrous, though, is Steve Ballmer's recent comments about how they are determined to compete with Apple on every single front, regardless of whether they have any other reason to be in that portion of the market. This aQuantive debacle is a result of Microsoft trying to do exactly the same thing with Google. With that statement, Ballmer indicated in no uncertain terms that he has learned absolutely nothing from that mistake.
What's really disastrous, though, is Steve Ballmer's recent comments about how they are determined to compete with Apple on every single front, regardless of whether they have any other reason to be in that portion of the market. This aQuantive debacle is a result of Microsoft trying to do exactly the same thing with Google. With that statement, Ballmer indicated in no uncertain terms that he has learned absolutely nothing from that mistake.