Apple/Microsoft....My Prediction

[bubbajim]

Ok..maybe he's not the usual well-defined troll, but for some reason I just picture this person with a billboard strapped to the back waving a bell frantically about our immanent demise.

I took a moment and read the OP's comment again and realized what was really being said, why point out just these two companies though does not really make much sense; hence my initial T-baggin'.

All he just described is a recession...plain and simple. No jobs=no money to buy products. No sales=no profit. No profit=dead company.

This is actually happening now, though not in a grand dramactic fashion as the OP predicts, but with the residential housing market. It will all work itself out through various other means and either a recession will happen or the government will raise/lower rates to help ease us through the turbulence.

[Qion]

The residential housing market here in Fort Wayne has already begun to stabilize to a great degree; I project we'll actually see improvements larger than before everything went downhill. I don't know about the rest of the world, however.

[bubbajim]

Median home prices in california are still around 575,000 - 615,000. Less than 30% of Californians can afford to own a home. I don't have sources on this, it's from memory over the past couple of months from news reports, but they are close to those numbers. It's just mind boggling, that to be in California and watcht someone try to sell a postage stamp-size lot for a half-a-mil.

Either way, when the economy goes into this supposed doomsday spiral, I think by then the last thing we will be concerned about is wether or not Microsoft has the nerve to buy up Apple. I'm sure by then I'd be more concern about the welfare of my family and friends.

[Rhisiart]

Primitive Darwinism = fight for the fittest (the selfish gene), e.g. MS takes over Apple.

Advanced Darwinism [Dawkins etc.] = the instinctive need for diversification and co-operation (the unselfish gene), e.g. legislation prevents monopolising of the software market, or MS take over Apple, but in doing so ineviatably fuels new OS competitive products from innovators.

The end result? MS never have the final say. It goes against nature.

[Mikuro]

As someone who has been known to indulge crazy theories....I still think this is absurd. :P

Apple is successful enough and has diversified their business enough so that they'll be able to survive hard times. Rewind to 10-15 years ago. Apple was in veeeery bad financial shape, yet they survived, and I don't see them falling that low again any time soon.

No company is immune to total economic chaos, granted, but I just don't see things getting that bad. If I did, I'd be stockpiling canned goods and investing in bunker.

[RompStar]

Microsoft sucks big balls daily.