Why Microsoft Desperately Needs To Become More Acquisitive

We're on the verge of hearing how Microsoft performed in the last quarter of 2010 - the general consensus seems to be that the world's largest software maker is set to report a dip in earnings. We'll be covering the quarterly earnings release, which is scheduled for after the market closes, and we'll be zooming in on Microsoft's online businesses in particular. But before we do, I wanted to address something else. I'll start with a rundown of mergers and acquisitions announced by major Internet and tech companies since the beginning of this year, which, notably, is less than a month ago:

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