Is Microsoft a good long term investment? I need to know if there are 3 reasons to buy now?

1) Yes
2) Microsoft is the fourth most valuable company in the United States of America after Exxon Mobil and General Electric.
3) Microsoft is the seventh most profitable company in the United States of America after Exxon Mobil, Citigroup, Bank of America, General Electric, Chevron Texaco and ConocoPhilips.
4) Apple sold 8,100,000 IPods in the third quarter. (32% more than it did in the same period of 2005)

With Zune (Coming this november) Microsoft wants to capture 30% of the Ipod Market.

Sony Playstation was launched on 1994 and sold 100,000,000 consoles in eleven years (Production ended on 2006)

Sony Playstation 2 was launched on 2000 and sold 100,000,000 consoles in 2005 (On November and December 2005 Sony sold 546,096 and 1,500,000 consoles)

Sony Playstation 3 will be launched in November 2006 and will sell 100,000,000 consoles despite the $499 USD price tag.

Microsoft sold 191,320 and 281,441 Xboxes consoles on November and December of 2005 and WILL SELL 100,000,000 Xboxes by 2012 if Microsoft lowers the price to $99.99 USD to compete against Nintendo.

So far, Microsoft has sold 22,000,000 Xboxes ahead of the 20,850,000 Gamecubes Nintendo sold in the same period.

If every consumer buys at least one Microsoft Games Studios Game in their lifetime for at least $49.99 USD Microsoft will recover their losses ($4 Billion so far and counting)

Microsoft won't be able to sell 100,000,000 Xboxes 360 unless the DVD (Now obsolete) is changed to an HD-DVD to compete against Sony's Blu-Ray and if the 20 GB hard disc (Now obsolete) is changed to a 40 GB

You are about 20 years too late..

I'm inclined to agree on a long term basis.

Enron taught us a bitter lesson.

Never place all your eggs in one basket.

While other smaller companies could be tomorow's Microsoft, Microsoft should have in place a solid team watching for opportunities that arise in the computer industry.

Besides, Bill Gates became good friends with the second richest person, Warren Buffett, and they have little in common with their business strategies.

Bill Gates now is devoted to charity and that's an honorable endeavor. He cashes in his Microsoft stock every month or so.

Should he cash in too much at one time, it may drop severely, so he knows how to pace himself.

Microsoft seems to be a highly profitable and strong name.

Yet, things could go wrong which you can't anticipate.

I differ as to who is the really richest person...but that's a subject for another question.

Frank (above...) is absolutely correct. 2007 will be the greatest year in Microsoft corporate history. Get on the bandwagon while people all around you are making room and begin to accumulate shares now.
The entire market will be dropping until the end of November and I would not be surprised if you can pick up Microsoft for around fifteen dollars at that time.
The stock will sustain a thirty dollar level by January 2008.

Best of luck to you!