Much of that was thanks to the management style of the shy and retiring CEO Steve Ballmer who managed to keep the software giant stable while never managing to do anything too exciting.
Now that appears to have changed as Microsoft reported better-than-expected quarterly adjusted revenue boosted by burgeoning demand for its cloud products.
Shares soaring by 9.8 percent and taking them to a value they have not seen March 2000.
It is all down to Chief Executive Satya Nadella’s cunning plan to have the company focus to software and cloud services. Windows is ok, but in a weak PC market, Redmond needed to do something else.
Turns out that he was right. Sales of Windows to computer makers fell 6 percent in the quarter - slowing from the double-digit declines seen in recent quarters.
However revenue from Microsoft's cloud business, which includes products such as Windows Server and cloud-based platforms such as Azure, rose 8 percent to $5.9 billion and is expected to reach $6.2-$6.3 billion in the current quarter.
Nadella has also been cutting costs and fired a few staff as part of his stream-lining operations. If it had not been for the strong US dollar Microsoft would have made even more.
Revenue rose 14 percent, accounting for about 29 percent of overall revenue in the quarter ended September 30, which is not to be sneezed at.
That is not to say that Microsoft still does not need Windows. The big test for Windows will be in coming quarters as Microsoft rolls out its latest devices, including its first laptop, a revamped Surface Pro tablet and new Lumia phones.
Revenue in the business that includes Windows, fell 17 percent to $9.4 billion, accounting for 46 percent of total revenue, and is forecast to hit $12.0-$12.4 billion in the current quarter.
Microsoft got about 54 percent of its revenue from outside the United States in 2015.
The company's net income rose to $4.62 billion in the quarter, from $4.54 billion last year.
Adjusted revenue fell 6.6 percent to $21.66 billion. Analysts on average were expecting revenue of $21.03 billion. Still, it would appear that the Curse of Steve Ballmer is broken and Microsoft is back on track for growth.
