MSFT isn't actually a bad investment. The dividend is actually pretty good. And W8 is not as bad as people make it out to be. Can't help people are so stupid they can't understand a new interface that is easy to use with a mouse or touchscreen. Anyway, W8 will have a boot to desktop mode in the next patch/update to silence those critics.
BTW MSFT is up about 23% YTD...not bad if you bought near the bottom.
Yes, but I honestly thought Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 were going to usurp much of Android's market share and squeeze Google. I thought this hinged on an awesome touch version of MS Office. I have heard rumors that there is still such a version of Office coming, but the fact that the Surface RT needed a desktop just so it could run Office made me lose faith in Microsoft's ability or desire to redesign Office for touch. Despite its lack of market share and some power features, iWork provides a far better touch interface on iPad than Office does on Surface. I thought MS was going to show Apple how an Office app should be done, but instead they gave users "touch mode" which just meant bigger buttons and more spacing between them.
As far as Windows 8 goes, its not the usability that matters to me but the adoption rate. Right now, PCs are in decline and Windows 8 is riding that wave since tablet sales for Windows have not really picked up yet (largely I think due to the lack of a killer touch version of Office).