MS Accounting: Net Loss

Okay, full disclosure, so I've benefited from Microsoft stock options. I've also benefited from Adobe stock options.

So, I guess it causes me an ethical twinge to discover recently, that if Microsoft had actually used generally accepted accounting practices, they would have declared a net loss of $18 billion in 1998 for Microsoft (Economist link). How did I discover this?

Why, by randomly browsing on Slashdot, of course.

So, we know this about this Microsoft of six years ago. But how is Microsoft doing as far as their current accounting practices? The problem for shareholders (and this includes most employees), no one really knows.