Paddles, CLEAR! ...............THUMP!

That about covers it - stock cardiac arrest. Having seen this movie so many times before over the past 5 years, I'm frankly too disgusted to post much more. And where are Ballmer or Liddell during this latest meltdown? Are they responding to the negative Barron's article credited with the most recent selloff? Nope. Are they addressing the seemingly endless barrage of negative Vista coverage and reviews - including many from sources you'd expect to be sympathetic to PCs and MSFT? Nope. I mean, even with a $500M launch, you just can't buy publicity like this, or this, or this, or this, or this, or - well, you get the picture. Are they putting any public pressure on Apple to get off their asses and get iTunes or indeed ANY of Apple's software Vista-ready in a timely manner? Nope. Are they reaffirming Vista sales in light of numerous articles in the media talking about the lack of interest? Nope. Are they doing anything to reverse the negative perception and concern caused by stories like this, that are making their way throughout the market and the blogospehere? Nope. Why not? Well, apparently they're too busy running the business so badly that all this is the norm rather than the exception.

Will the stock likely bounce short-term? Sure, it's way oversold. Once that's over, will there be any respite from the massive market-lagging performance we've seen for most of the past 5 years without major changes? Absolutely not. Message to MSFT's Board: when do you folks plan on doing your job on behalf of shareholders and making some tough decisions to finally reverse this comedy of errors and continued downward spiral? Keep doing nothing, and maybe this scenario might not be so laughable after all...

Update: Paul Kedrosky does some historical analysis on MSFT stock following major Windows launches:

• Microsoft Stock Performance Suffers Following Vista Launch