Prudential Downgrade
Microsoft (MSFT) 57 1/4 -1 1/8: Prudential downgraded to HOLD from ACCUMULATE due to an increasingly cloudy PC demand outlook. Price target is $55... Lowered its secular EPS growth estimate to 16% from 20%... Concerns stem from news regarding PC demand resulting from a Prudential Securities Asia Technology Tour and also from the possibility that Intel (INTC) may freeze, and even reduce, its capital expenditures next year.
Thanks to briefing.com
Eric Raymond Interview
lwn.net
CL: We saw the big advancement of both GNOME and KDE this year as software and as organizations. But in practice, Linux has not yet been the most popular desktop. Do you see any obstacle to it or is it like it just takes a little more time?
ESR: I think Linux will become dominant before it is really ready technically for the end users. And the reason I believe that is because I now think that Microsoft monopoly is going to collapse for other reasons in the near future.
One of the reasons is that prices for hardware is steadily dropping. This is a problem for Microsoft because their business model depends on charging a fixed price for pre-installed Windows on a machine. As hardware prices drop, that fixed price represents a larger portion of the margins of the desktop OEMs. The desktop OEMs are going to reach the point when prices drop to a certain level where they simply can't make any money paying the Microsoft tax.
And it is at that point, that the Microsoft monopoly will collapse, because they will then unbundle Windows from their machines, and offer something that's inexpensive (like, say, Linux), in an effort to get some of their margin. I believe that will happen probably within five to six month from now, and that's probably before Linux will become polished and be ready for the end user.
Thanks to slashdot.org
Hotmail: You Get What You Pay For
by Elisa Batista
wired.com
Haisty is part of a cluster of users plagued with Hotmail's latest headaches. Since Sunday, an undisclosed number of users have not been able to get to their Hotmail home pages or log onto their accounts. Users who successfully log in must wait 30 seconds to a minute for any task to be completed.
Hotmail representatives didn't have a novel reason for the email meltdown. Once again, the servers hosting the e-mail accounts are being repaired.
Thanks to wired.com
Cheers. |
