Microsoft was expecting these divisional results as of October.

Will Microsoft warn Wall Street about lower-than-expected earnings? That's the big question surrounding the company's stock right now, particularly after Morgan Stanley lowered its quarterly and annual expectations for Microsoft's revenue and profits this morning.

When last we heard from the company, in October, it was projecting revenue of $17.3 billion to $17.8 billion in revenue for the quarter, with earnings per share between 51 cents and 53 cents. Of course, it's an understatement to say that a lot happened in the economy since. In particular, the turmoil has reduced expectations for PC sales, a key factor in Microsoft's Windows sales.

Morgan Stanley's Adam Holt this morning dropped his expectations for Microsoft's current quarter to $16.7 billion in revenue and 46 cents per share of profit, as detailed by Barron's Tech Trader Daily, in a post titled, "Microsoft: Waiting for the warning." Holt also reduced his expectations for Microsoft for the full fiscal year.

Microsoft's stalwart Server & Tools Division won't be spared the effects of the downturn, reports Ina Fried of CNet News.com, quoting Microsoft server boss Bob Muglia saying that IT budgets are "cramped." Over at ZDNet, Larry Dignan looks at the biggest concerns about the Redmond company, including PC sales and online profitability.

Microsoft shares are currently down about 6 percent on the day, to $19.38.

What would a Microsoft earnings warning look like? For a clue, you have to go all the way back to December 2000, in the middle of the dot-com bust, which appears to be last time the company issued such a warning. It came out around the middle of the month, on Dec. 14, so if the past practice is any indication, any new warning could be a few days away.