Microsoft earnings cushioned by cloud business

Seattle

MICROSOFT is best known for software products like Windows and Office. If you bought a PC, more often than not it came with Windows, and chances are you bought a copy of Office to go with it.

But the personal computers that Microsoft makes a lot of software for are not selling the way they once did. And the company's entry into the smartphone business - which has been eating into PC sales for several years - was a disaster.