I don't think the comparison is applicable here. In 1997 Apple was clearly not in a position to transition from a growth-oriented company keeping it all for investment, to a profit-oriented company paying back a large chunk of its profit to shareholders. In 1997 Apple profits were minus 1 billion dollars. Even if you factor out Next buyout (400 millions), that's still deep down in the red. Not profits to distribute.<p>But that would definitely apply to 2010 Apple &#38; Microsoft : should they continue to look for growth at all cost, or start paying big (bigger) dividends to shareholders? I lean toward investing... continue to try to change the world, please. Even if lately Microsoft seems to be bad at it (but are they really?), trying to follow the leaders instead of implementing a vision, it doesn't mean it's too late...