I am really hopeful for the future of Microsoft. They have the potential to do something really awesome with Windows 8/Windows Phone 8/Xbox.
We've been promised ubiquitous computing for years and Microsoft has finally developed a common platform that might make that possible. It's all going to be about execution. The things they've announced so far seem promising, but we'll have to wait and see if it actually works.
Microsoft didn't "bail out" Apple--Apple by 1997 was solvent and profitable. The immediate cash flow problem was solved by Gil Amelio and Fred Anderson a year before. The truce between Apple and Microsoft had more to do with Apple focusing on the future and abandoning several frankly promising legal claims against Microsoft, including Microsoft's outright theft of the QuickTime source code. Promising to sell Microsoft Office for Mac was more important than the $150 million.
Its kind of hard to swallow (but Jobs-ish character type, of course) to see Microsoft rescuing them, and years later seeing both Jobs and Gates sitting next to each other and Jobs bashing Gates like he's a dirt.
We've been promised ubiquitous computing for years and Microsoft has finally developed a common platform that might make that possible. It's all going to be about execution. The things they've announced so far seem promising, but we'll have to wait and see if it actually works.