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Technology Stocks : All About Sun Microsystems
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To: QwikSand who wrote (16329)5/12/1999 5:55:00 PM
From: Esvida   of 64865
 
For a lot of people, the cost of reboot pales compared to the money they save on the software side. As long as pc-based software is readily available (try-and-no-need-to-buy distribution), I think WinTel will continue to dominate the home market. Only when Bill gets his wish to tax every pc user with a monthly fee for using his software that his strangle hold on this segment may weaken a bit. There's some hope there. Intel already placed ID on the P3 proc. Bill already introduced this idea in his first book (titled the road ahead to bellvue or something like that). I speculate that the next step is a distributed network of license servers to measure software usage based on proc ID. It can be done easily. Just a matter of timing to get political support. Don't be shocked if Bill and co will begin to peddle a federal software use tax on Uncle's behalf similar to the tax we now pay for using long distance lines. Check his book out - he used a very apt analogy - comparing software to utilities. (This comparison is also a subtle indication he recognized his monopolistic position.)

Until then please don't get it wrong in thinking that Bill does not benefit from this kind of illegal distribution. It pushes the adoption rate for his software and he recovers most of his lost revenue on the business side. This is the norm in our system. Businesses always subsidize home users on everything used by both. Another side effect is it drives his competitors out of business so that if and when it is politically correct to roll out license servers, his software is the only choice on the network. At this point, it only hurts him badly in a marketplace where this distribution method is pervasive on both business and home segment.

Again, this is purely my own 2-penny worth of observation and speculation.
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