That's missing the point - Even if the sum total was positive the revenue came from businesses such as Windows and Office which everyone agrees are set to decline.
Microsoft was supposed to be in a position to offset the decline from Windows/Office by being a leader in the SmartPhone/Tablets/Online game. Instead, they kept losing money big time and constantly readjusting to no avail in those areas and there is still no sign of them picking up steam at a rate they need to.
There are a whole lot of people who will never migrate away from traditional desktops and laptops, nor away from Windows and Office. The prices of those products could be raised substantially before these is any price sensitivity, because the direct product pricing is a small part of the lifecycle expense of those "seats."
Microsoft has a lot of time and a lot of money to help figure out what comes next for them. Though the money can be kind of a curse. It enabled them to overspend on projects until they became permanent unkillable money losers.
Mostly they need to get rid of dogmas and let their people rip and make something that isn't Windows, and has no Windows legacy tail to drag around (I did not say no migration path or protocol-level compatibility).
> Even if the sum total was positive the revenue came from businesses such as Windows and Office which everyone agrees are set to decline. Microsoft was supposed to be in a position to offset the decline from Windows/Office
It is true that Windows and Office grew over the past ten years. On the other hand, the Server & Tools division grew from 12% of Microsoft's operating income in fiscal year 2003, to 31% of operating income in fiscal year 2013.
Also, there is no decline in "Windows and Office." There is a decline in Windows -- but not in Office. Maybe you think that Office will decline, but the analysts don't. So it's certainly not true that "everyone agrees" it is "set to decline."
And what happens when Windows isn't the most widely used Enterprise platform because they failed at SmartPhones and Tablets and Google happily took their Exchange revenue? Kind of opposite of iPod effect. Things are more interdependent than they look.
Sure, it would take a long time to make a dent but reduced consumer side influence of Windows and office cannot possibly be good for Microsoft's Enterprise business in the long run.
Microsoft was supposed to be in a position to offset the decline from Windows/Office by being a leader in the SmartPhone/Tablets/Online game. Instead, they kept losing money big time and constantly readjusting to no avail in those areas and there is still no sign of them picking up steam at a rate they need to.