Between November and December shares short in MSFT feel an extraordinary 41.7 million shares to 102.6 million.

What gives? Well, in all probability Vista for one. Programmers have discovered some bugs, but research firm IDC is predicting the sale of 90 million licenses next year, mostly for home computers.

Microsoft also said that Xbox sales should beat the company’s forecasts. The slow start of sales for rival game platform Sony PS3 has probably helped.

Microsoft’s announcement that it will better target ads on its websites is at least a sign that the lagging division of the company may come out of a long sleep.

The old dog has learned some new tricks.

Douglas A. McIntyre can be reached at douglasamcintyre@247wallst.com. He does not own securities in companies that he writes about.