Good for the Goose
Quite a few years ago read a piece about Microsoft accounting practices. It said something like if you are an investor, be careful when Microsoft starts declaring all the software the employees use at Microsoft. This will mean their profits are starting to slow because now they are using this software used “in house” as a purchase to artificially inflate their margins. Well they did start doing that a few years ago and for a while it keep their margins up. Now their stock has been flat for so long I can remember.
Well, now Apple wants to do the opposite. Right now they record their iPhone sales over a 24 month period (the useful life of an iPhone). So if you buy an iPhone for $240, it will get reported to the Apple shareholders as $20 per a month for two years. Apple does this so that they can offer free upgrades for the iPhone. Notice that the iTouch people have to pay for their upgrades, that is why. Blame it on the Accounting laws. Of course IF they do go this way with the iPhone, that says good bye to the free upgrades.
Which brings into the whole affect of companies not giving two bits about their customer anymore, only Wall Street. At least in the past they pretended to care.
Sigh
P.S. You like you like your GUI, thank Ivan Edward Sutherland for the Sketchpad.
