Microsoft's Priorities

Sent to and not published by the Boston Globe

Now that the anti-trust suits have been settled and the risk of fines and damages are past, Microsoft's needs for a gigantic war chest are over.
I must confess that I, as a consumer, could see a better use for the funds than returning the money to the stockholders. How about investing in the product to stabilize it and get rid of all those undocumented holes in security that bedevil Windows to this day. Or how about paying Windows users for the downtime costs of adding security patches and data losses due to the viruses and worms that entered our systems due to Microsoft's inability to provide a secure platform.