Microsoft and Amazon report lower earnings

The economic contraction has cut deeply into profits at the world's largest software company: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/technology/companies/24soft.html?emc=eta1 and at the one of the world's premiere online retailers: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/24/technology/companies/24amazon.html?_r=1&emc=eta1