MSFT has been a whole other kind of ridiculous: As close to completely flat as you can manage given the turbulent financial markets for going on twelve years.

Adobe, Apple, Oracle, IBM, they've all completely eclipsed Microsoft in terms of stock performance. I'm not one to suggest stock price is everything, but it is an indicator as to how much faith people have, collectively, in the company.

When Apple was bottoming out they were in rough shape. Yes, they had billions in the bank and could've muddled along for another decade, and they never posted losses anywhere near what other companies at the time did, but they were a hurting unit.

Slumping market share, collapsing interest in their operating system, expensive research efforts coming up with nothing tangible to bring to market...

Sounds a lot like Microsoft, doesn't it?