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Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: MadManMike who wrote (23807)	6/8/1999 11:05:00 AM
From: William Hunt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Thread ---Microsoft Corp. Dow Jones Newswires -- June 8, 1999 DJ Microsoft's Ballmer: Co's Future Is In Communications By Christopher Grimes ATLANTA (Dow Jones)--Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) has its eye on the telecommunications industry. That's the message from Steve Ballmer, the software giant's president, who kicked off the big Supercomm conference here Tuesday morning. Microsoft has been investing billions in recent months to cement partnerships with AT&T Corp. (T), Nextel Communications Inc. (NXTL) and Qwest Communications International Inc. (QWST) because the Internet is blurring the lines between communications and computing, Ballmer said. "The future of our business and the future of the telecommunications business are increasingly linked," Ballmer said. Ballmer said people will soon connect to the Internet in a variety of ways, not just through PCs. Computer users today have a lot of "unfulfilled needs," especially the need to be "untethered," he said. So, those needs will drive demand for wireless, hand-held devices that connect to the Internet - blending the functions of cellular phones and palm-top computers, he said. He said that 20 years ago, Microsoft founder Bill Gates' goal was to have a PC on every desk. Now, the goal is to allow people to connect to the Web "however and whenever" they want to. Microsoft also wants its Windows NT software to run the computers that form the Internet's backbone, Ballmer said. This would give Microsoft a lucrative new customer base of telecommunications companies, who so far have largely shunned its software because it isn't considered reliable enough. But he said telecommunications companies would do well to adopt the model that has made Microsoft so successful in the PC market. Because it is mass-produced and runs on Intel Corp.'s (INTC) chips, telecommunications companies would save money, he said. He showed off such a device, a black box that would handle integrated e-mail and voice mail for small businesses. Co-developed with Sprint, the server would let users click on and listen to a voice message in the same place as they check their e-mail. BEST WISHES BILL