Why Businesses Should Use Point of Sale Equipment?Say what you want about the word "conviction," but patience has its limits. Cheering on a company is all well and good. But if it's not matched by execution, there's a point when it's best to cut your losses and move on. Microsoft serves as a perfect example. While I do believe the stock has value, shares have been stuck in quicksand for some time -- and that's really the key.

You see, despite Microsoft's prolonged struggles, there's a constant threshold. The stock has never fallen to ridiculous (teen) levels. But there's a first time for everything. And unless the company addresses its poor leadership, shares have a chance of falling below $20. To prevent this, in its Q2 report, Microsoft must respond to concerns about poor Windows 8 and Surface sales.The software giant will announce second quarter earnings on Thursday and expectations are… well, more realistic.

Consensus estimates are calling for 75 cents per share on revenue of $21.7 billion. This represents a profit decline of 5% with a modest 4% sales growth.Unfortunately, Dell's recent attempts to offset poor PC sales by buying up software companies have not worked. And there are now rumors that the company is up for sale. While it seems that Dell has all but given up on its PC business, there was a pleasant surprise from Hewlett-Packard, as faint as it may have been.