Give Microsoft credit for improvisation. Its $2 billioninvestment to finance the Dell buyout is yet another way to support the suffering PC ecosystem. Before long, though, the software giant may have to give ground on some of its profits, too.

For years, Microsoft (along with Intel) has generated huge profits from the software (and chips) packaged in PCs. Meanwhile, manufacturing partners were happy with scraps from the table in the form of a few percentage points of operating-profit margin. They made up for low profits in volume.

Then Apple ushered in the mobile-device revolution. Next, Google joined the party with its Android mobile-operating system. The PC ecosystem was caught flat-footed. Seeing that its manufacturing partners aren't good at delivering leading-edge hardware, Microsoft decided to compete directly with those partners, launching its Surface tablet in 2012.

Its role is getting even more complicated with the money it is lending to help Michael Dell take his company private. Mr. Dell, along with private-equity firm Silver Lake Partners, proposed Tuesday a $24.4 billion buyout.

Despite its participation, Microsoft isn't getting board seats or operational control. What it is getting, apparently, is a wink and a nod that Dell won't start shippingequipmentrunning Android, for instance. Unlike Lenovo, say, which has hedged its bets and built a thriving Android mobile-devices business in China, Dell will remain a loyal Microsoft shop.

The danger there is that, by limiting its technology options, Microsoft's involvement ultimately damages Dell's long-term prospects.

In fact, Mr. Dell might actually use the money to take the fight back to Lenovo, which has supplanted Dell as the No. 2 PC player by market share, behind Hewlett-Packard, thanks to its dominant position in fast-growing China. Conventional wisdom is that Mr. Dell needs to take the company private so the grindingly slow process of transitioning away from low-margin PCs to higher-margin software and services can be done without so much public scrutiny. However, another possible strategy is to double down on PCs, attacking emerging markets where growth potential is more immediate.

Naturally, Microsoft describes its debt investment in Dell as 'passive.' It doesn't want partners to view it for what it truly is: sponsorship of a rival. Indeed, this investment in Dell, like the launch of the Surface, and even the subsidy Microsoft is paying Nokia, all represent investments in hardware.

While tactically that might make sense and the amount involved is small for Microsoft, it is deploying cash into a lower-return business.

Lenovo says it wants to beat its rivals in the market. But how can it do that when they have Microsoft's financial support? It makes sense that Lenovo is selling mobile devices primarilyrunning Google's free Android operating system and that PC-maker Acer is pushing new low-end laptops running Google's free Chrome operating system.

Microsoft software remains relatively expensive. Ultimately, all these investments in hardware and in support of partners are to help preserve an ecosystem that, in time, may need to see Microsoft share more of the spoils.

ROLFE WINKLER

• investment [in´vestmənt]   n.投资；(时间等)投入   (初中英语单词)
• finance [´fainæns]   n.财政；金融 vt.资助   (初中英语单词)
• suffering [´sʌfəriŋ]   n.痛苦；灾害   (初中英语单词)
• meanwhile [´mi:n´wail]   n.&ad.其间；同时   (初中英语单词)
• percentage [pə´sentidʒ]   n.百分数；比例；部分   (初中英语单词)
• system [´sistəm]   n.系统，体系，制度   (初中英语单词)
• compete [kəm´pi:t]   v.比赛，竞争，对抗   (初中英语单词)
• complicated [´kɔmplikeitid]   a.结构复杂的；难懂的   (初中英语单词)
• shipping [´ʃipiŋ]   n.船运业；船舶(总数)   (初中英语单词)
• equipment [i´kwipmənt]   n.装备，设备   (初中英语单词)
• running [´rʌniŋ]   a.奔跑的；流动的   (初中英语单词)
• instance [´instəns]   n.例子，实例，例证   (初中英语单词)
• unlike [,ʌn´laik]   a.不同的 prep.不象...   (初中英语单词)
• actually [´æktʃuəli]   ad.事实上；实际上   (初中英语单词)
• player [´pleiə]   n.游戏的人；选手   (初中英语单词)
• wisdom [´wizdəm]   n.智慧，聪明，才智   (初中英语单词)
• amount [ə´maunt]   n.总数；数量 v.合计   (初中英语单词)
• financial [fi´nænʃəl]   a.金融的，财政的   (初中英语单词)
• expensive [ik´spensiv]   a.费钱的，昂贵的   (初中英语单词)
• preserve [pri´zə:v]   v.保藏 n.保藏物   (初中英语单词)
• billion [´biljən]   num.万亿   (高中英语单词)
• margin [´mɑ:dʒin]   n.边缘；空白；余地   (高中英语单词)
• seeing [si:iŋ]   see的现在分词 n.视觉   (高中英语单词)
• decided [di´saidid]   a.明显的；决定的   (高中英语单词)
• tablet [´tæblit]   n.碑；牌；匾额   (高中英语单词)
• apparently [ə´pærəntli]   ad.显然，表面上地   (高中英语单词)
• potential [pə´tenʃəl]   n.&a.潜在的；可能的   (高中英语单词)
• launch [lɔ:ntʃ]   vt.发动 n.发射；汽艇   (高中英语单词)
• relatively [´relətivli]   ad.比较地；相对地   (高中英语单词)
• hardware [´hɑ:dweə]   n.五金器皿   (英语四级单词)
• ultimately [´ʌltimitli]   ad.最后，最终   (英语四级单词)
• dominant [´dɔminənt]   a.统治的；占优势的   (英语四级单词)
• conventional [kən´venʃənəl]   a.常规的；协定的   (英语四级单词)
• primarily [´praimərəli, prai´merəli]   ad.首先；主要地   (英语四级单词)
• participation [pɑ:,tisi´peiʃən]   n.参加，参与   (英语六级单词)
• strategy [´strætidʒi]   n.兵法；战略   (英语六级单词)