Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : LINUX -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: E. Charters who wrote (1646)	7/21/1999 7:30:00 PM
From: Rusty Johnson	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 2617

Microsoft cries wolf forbes.com By David Einstein, Forbes ASAP Microsoft is crying wolf again. Every year the company warns that revenues are about to slow down, and every quarter revenues just keep roaring along. But in a couple of years, the wolf may actually be at the door. By 2002, say industry analysts, technologies just now rearing their heads will mature, provide alternatives to Microsoft's Windows hegemony and hamper the Redmond, Wash., company's ability to grow at 30% per years--the way it has through most of this decade. And that could spell real trouble for the software giant, because the value of its stock depends largely on its top line growth. The new stuff that could conspire to burst Bill Gates' bubble: • Linux . Although it's still beneath the radar as a competitor to Windows NT, the lean, open-source, Unix-based operating system is starting to attract the attention of developers, who are creating applications and utilities for it. Within a couple of years, it could put a major dent in Microsoft sales, slowing what right now is the company's fastest growing revenue generator. And Linux also could challenge Windows 98-- or whatever they're calling it two years from now--on the desktop. As the graphical user interfaces for Linux become more practical, consumers, small businesses and even big corporations may opt for PCs pre-loaded with Linux from companies such as Red Hat, and applications like the upcoming WordPerfect Office for Linux from Corel (nasdaq: CORL). • Applications on Demand. Within several years, you won't have to buy a word processor or a spreadsheet. You'll be able to rent them online from your Internet service provider or a company specializing in what's being called "apps on demand." This will be especially attractive to big companies that now must buy thousands of licenses for Microsoft Word and other applications. Although Microsoft figures to be a key provider of the applications rented over the Internet, it may longer will get a revenue boost every time it upgrades a product. • Jini and other new-fangled technologies. Gates hasn't achieved his longtime goal of putting a PC on every desktop, and it looks like he never will. The market already is broadening to include other kinds of computing gizmos, notably handheld devices like the PalmPilot. And soon a wide range of appliances, including Web-based phones and set-top boxes, will provide services that right now come through a PC. Moreoever, Many of the devices will run software like Sun Microsystems' (nasdaq: SUNW) Java and Jini , letting them compete directly with Windows CE, the slimmed-down version of Windows that Microsoft hopes will let it thrive in a non-PC world. Rob Enderle, an industry analyst with Giga Information Group, says that 2002 "is the year when we think a series of technologies will come together to provide a much more appliance-like environment. And Microsoft's ability to pull revenue will be substantially reduced." So maybe it's time to start taking Microsoft seriously when it says the good times can't continue to roll forever.