It may have its troubles with the US judiciary over competition matters and a new management team may just have taken the helm, but there are a lot of outfits around that would gladly settle for the woes facing the world's largest group, Microsoft, in return for a 22 per cent rise in already handsome profits.

Fears of a slowdown in the industry have proved unfounded, as Intel's results last week showed, and continuing strong demand for personal computers has driven Microsoft to consistently better expectation this year.

If only the future on the litigation front looked as secure . . .