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

To: John F. Dowd who wrote (28021)	8/8/1999 6:25:00 PM
From: taxman	Respond to of 74651

San Jose, California, Aug. 8 (Bloomberg) -- Cisco Systems Inc., the No. 1 maker of equipment that runs the Internet, plans to invest $1 billion in accounting and consulting firm KPMG LLP to offer business functions online. Cisco will get a stake of less than 20 percent in the consulting business of KPMG, the U.S. unit of No. 4 accounting firm KPMG International. Under the agreement, to be announced tomorrow, KPMG will hire 4,000 engineers and other professionals over 18 months and build six technology centers. KPMG will maintain the services, using Cisco equipment, with marketing assistance by Cisco's 6,000-person sales force. Companies like Cisco and KPMG need to offer a package of services to help customers streamline business by putting functions such as financial reporting and accounting on the Internet. International Business Machines Corp., the world's biggest computer maker and computer-services company, has targeted businesses with high-end computers and online services. ``If KPMG can pull this off, they will have recast the role of the stodgy CPA (certified public accountant) firm,' said Rick Telberg, editor of Accounting Today, an industry publication. Still, the agreement could face scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and other accounting regulators that bar non-CPAs from owning accounting firms, Telberg said. Specifically, regulators are concerned an auditor won't be impartial if it's looking at the books of a business partner or client of a partner. ``The question is are the Chinese walls high enough and thick enough' to allow Cisco to become a shareholder in closely held KPMG, Telberg said. Consulting Unit The companies have signed a letter of intent and expect to sign a definitive agreement and complete the transaction next month. KPMG will incorporate its consulting business as KPMG Consulting, and Cisco will be represented on its board. The investment equals about 28 percent of closely held KPMG's U.S. revenue last year and about one-third of Cisco's revenue in the quarter ended May 1. The agreement was reported earlier in the New York Times. Cisco and KPMG have maintained an alliance and have other relationships to take advantage of the explosion in Internet use, particularly among businesses. The market for business services on the Internet is growing 40 percent a year, said KPMG LLP Chairman and Chief Executive Stephen Butler, the Times reported. In June, Qwest Communications International Inc., the No. 4 U.S. long-distance carrier, and KPMG set up a venture to provide Internet-based services under a program called Qwest Cyber.solutions. KPMG owns 49 percent of that endeavor, while Qwest holds 51 percent. Shares of San Jose, California-based Cisco rose 3/4 to 2 1/4 on Friday. ¸1999 Bloomberg L.P. regards

To: John F. Dowd who wrote (28021)	8/8/1999 8:14:00 PM
From: RTev	Respond to of 74651

Box makers don't have a product without an OS. Get a grip, John. Go back and re-read the message before you fly off the handle. I agree with what you said. I said so in my message that you try to disagree with. But just to make it easier on you, here's the relevant sentence: "And, by the way, almost every microprocessor device has some kind of OS, limited though it may be." So see. I agree. Every box-maker uses an OS. Every car-maker uses an OS. Nearly every toy-maker these days uses an OS. And let's take a look at some of your other points in that peevish post and compare them to the points I made: You said: You don't get it Windows is the gold standard and it is a good value. And I said: Some of these appliances would be sold instead of a PC, but many of them would be bought -- as you suggest you might do -- as an addition to a PC. and I believe that a CE box would be appealing, since it has the advantage of familiarity and it could include several additional utilities that make it more PC-like. You said: The $150 thin client will just sell more real computers and they will have MSFT's OS. I said: Microsoft is also in a good position to make such devices easily networkable with Windows PCs. I don't expect anyone to take the time to read every message, but I do expect you and others to take the time to to understand a post before starting a reply with a phrase like "Get serious...". So finally, John, it was very nice of you to amplify some of the points I had already made because they are important points. But it would have been even nicer if you had tightened your grip on reality enough to recognize that you agree with something I said, as hard as that might be for you to accept.