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

To: Tony Viola who wrote (27222)	7/23/1999 1:56:00 PM
From: Teflon	Respond to of 74651

I'm getting ready to beat the traffic heading to the beach this weekend. I hope everyone has a great weekend, and good luck with staying cool. It's going to be another barn burner here in the NYC area. Thanks again for all the terrific dialogue :-) Teflon

To: Tony Viola who wrote (27222)	7/23/1999 2:16:00 PM
From: Teflon	Respond to of 74651

More excerpts from the shareholders meeting: Microsoft Commerce Group Comes Out Of Its Shell By Mary Jo Foley 07/22/99 08:14:00 PM ZDNet Related Stories Microsoft Meets Next Windows 2000 Milestone Microsoft Betas NT 4 SP 6 Microsoft Sinks Alleged Software Pirates Ballmer: We Still Love You, Developers Three months after forming its CCG unit, Microsoft is peeling back the covers. Three months after it formed its Consumer and Commerce Group, Microsoft Corp. is starting to peel back the covers on some of the projects which CCG is undertaking. At the annual Microsoft financial analyst meeting in Seattle today, the co-vice presidents of CCG, Brad Chase and Jon DeVaan, updated Wall Street and market analysts on a number of emerging Microsoft's initiatives in this space. CCG's mission is three-fold, said Chase: to enable the "Web lifestyle," via the company's MSN.com consumer portal; to enable businesses--especially small businesses--to establish an online presence; and to extend Microsoft products to other non-PC platforms. Chase acknowledged that Microsoft still has its work cut out for itself with MSN. The top three priorities for MSN going forward are to increase its "stickiness," improve ad sales and incorporate more Microsoft "innovations." He did claim, however, that MSN's reputation as an ISP is on the upswing, and highlighted the improved Internet sign-up process for MSN that shipped as part of Windows 98 Second Edition as one example of that improvement. Chase touted Thursday's announcement by Microsoft of its MSN Messenger Service as a key driver for CCG's business. He also demonstrated a beta version of the revamped MSN Web Communities site on which the company is currently working. Chase showed off the new Buyers' Guides that are based on the CompareNet technology Microsoft acquired. And Chase discussed how Microsoft is enhancing its Search services over the next few months. The new Microsoft Search capability is currently in beta test. Profitability Still Elusive Meanwhile, CCG also is attempting to fulfill Microsoft's "anytime, anywhere, any device" charter through work the unit is doing on the Microsoft TV Platform, WebTV and MSN Mobile Services projects, said VP DeVaan. On the TV Platform front, Microsoft is aiming to provide more interactive services and customizability going forward. In the WebTV arena, the company is also emphasizing interactivity, support for "innovative devices" and "personal TV" capabilities--TV Pause, video game and music jukebox, video-on-demand and "personal channels" support. While CCG has a lot of ambitious projects on which it has begun delivering, the unit has nowhere to go but up, in terms of revenues. "We're doing a lot of great work in the CCG. We're still searching for profitability, but the trend is not positive to date. We will continue to make investments in fiscal 2000, and that should improve our competitive position," said chief financial officer Greg Maffei. One example of where Microsoft plans to spend: Microsoft is planning to shell out for MSN bounties in the coming year, Maffei told analysts. Teflon