Tech giant Microsoft (MSFT), via its Windows platform, makes the software that runs a lot of the world’s work and a good chunk of its play as well. But many are starting to wonder if that dominance is for the best, and Switzerland just joined the list. The news did not sit well with shareholders, who sent Microsoft shares down fractionally in Monday afternoon’s trading.
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Word from Switzerland’s Federal Chancellery noted that the government is out to “…reduce its dependency on Microsoft, step by step and in the long term.” This follows news that Switzerland recently installed Microsoft 365 on around 54,000 government workstations. But the process has begun nonetheless, as former head of the Swiss military Thomas Sussli called for “alternative solutions” to be more closely examined.
Given that the Swiss government has spent somewhere around $1.4 billion in licenses over the last 10 years, finding some reasonable alternatives to at least some of it makes sense. There is even something of a test case the Swiss can work from, reports note. Germany has begun working on an open-source solution, and Bern has reportedly taken an interest in that. Some elements of Microsoft can be replaced much more readily than others; just ask anyone who has pivoted away from Microsoft Office.
Showcase Coming
Meanwhile, Microsoft has plans to show off some big new independent games as the ID@Xbox showcase, sponsored by IGN, is set to hit later this week on April 23. The showcase will feature a range of trailers and first looks, as well as gameplay for a host of independent titles.
Several titles will get featured treatment, including Mistfall Hunter, Aphelion, and There Are No Ghosts at the Grand. The hope is that the focus on indie games will keep gamers interested until the upcoming release of several big-name games this summer. Summer is traditionally when the biggest titles get shown off ahead of the holiday shopping season a few months later, but the indie games help keep summer droughts from being a thing.
Is Microsoft a Buy, Hold or Sell?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on MSFT stock based on 35 Buys and three Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 17.73% rally in its share price over the past year, the average MSFT price target of $571.29 per share implies 36.33% upside potential.
