Arno,
Thank you for your logical presentation of the facts. It is good that we have knowledgeable board members like you available who can quash some of the three sentence hyperbole bound poster's who emerge around earnings time or whenever a negative article appears in the financial press.
Below I have posted something positive about Gates and Web TV that Barron's selectively chose not to speak about. Just in time for the Christmas season ramp up
WHY MICROSOFT IS GLUED TO THE TUBE
A new, souped-up version of WebTV is what made Gates bite
businessweek.com
A few extracts (the ones dealing more with MSFT):
For the answer, tune in on Sept. 16, when Microsoft unveils a new,
souped-up version of its WebTV system for surfing the Net via TV. That
product, along with the team that built it--Perlman, Goldman, and
co-founder Bruce Leak--is the real reason Gates bought the company.
Gates has said that the WebTV acquisition is Microsoft's riskiest gambit to date. But if it's successful, it could be the Trojan Horse the software giant has been searching for to ride into millions of living rooms around the world.
WHIZ CHIP. So what does WebTV have up its remote control? Perlman,
WebTV's fiery young chief executive, isn't talking. But insiders say the company has come up with technology that helps get around the current bandwidth limitations of the Net to deliver high-quality, high-speed Web images and video. At the heart of this, say insiders, is an innovative chip that crams the capabilities of a TV tuner, cable modem, and a high-speed PC modem into one low-cost unit. That, and other tricks, help WebTV begin to blur the distinction between TV programming and Web fare. That bandwidth-busting technology has helped WebTV snag new licensees, such as Hitachi Ltd. and Mitsubishi Corp., to make the new boxes.
The boxes may be impressive, but they're just a means to a bigger end:
creating a network that will deliver new kinds of digital content to
homes. ''We intend to define mass-market media for the next century,''says the cocksure Perlman.
Gates recently told a gathering of Wall Street analysts that the Net-TVmarket is a ''completely unproven business in terms of volume androyalty.'' But he added: ''Someone will come along and do some greatsoftware to get a revenue stream...and that someone could be us.''
WebTV's Jolna says ''everything from autos to travel tickets to
clothing'' will eventually be sold through WebTV. That could put
Microsoft in the catbird seat, since it owns not only WebTV but also one of the largest collections of Web properties, including CarPoint, an online car-buyer's guide; Expedia, a Web travel agency; and Sidewalk, a local arts-and-entertainment guide.
WebTV stores popular sites on servers and compresses video and images
for faster performance. Its technology can also display Web content so
it looks crisp on low-resolution TV screens. With his hot new technology and Microsoft's financial backing, Perlman might just fulfill his new boss's dream: Microsoft software in every living room.
My thoughts to Barron's: It's not about MSFT being a Media company. Get it right or get egg all over your face.
Regards,
Brian |
