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Technology Stocks : Novell (NOVL) dirt cheap, good buy? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: PJ Strifas who wrote (27736)	8/18/1999 6:22:00 PM
From: Scott C. Lemon	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 42771

Hello PJ, Wow ... a little emotion? ;-) I'll have to try and address the many responses that you had ... I'm sorry but several are incorrect, and others, I'll admit, we just won't agree upon. > Let me state for the record that yes, I am not a huge fan of MSFT. > It's not that I don't like their success, or I envy it. I just > don't like some of the things they do (or have done). This is obvious from the tone and logic of your post. Again ... I would suggest (as I did in my post) that some boundaries have been crossed, but testing the limits of the world is what separates the winner from the also-ran. > Now, the notion of "innocent before being guilty" makes for nice > rhetoric but somehow I don't believe it to be as cut and dry as you > state. ... and so we shall disagree on another subject. It is actually "innocent until proven guilty" which in my eyes was more the statement of "Wait until we hear the outcome of the trial ... and the results still don't 'prove' anything." Do you also believe that AT&T was a "monopoly"? Let me know by what measurement this was "proven". > I do agree with you about some bad choices/moves. This can explain > probably 60% of MSFT's success. But come on, you expect me to > believe ALL of MSFT's success is completely hinged on people making > bad choices/moves and some good marketing? Do I look that silly? I would suggest that you will believe what you want to. And no, I'm not sure about you looking silly. ;-) > There have been MANY documented instances of unethical (and even > immoral) plays by MSFT in helping themselves along their path of > success. Remember the DR-DOS incompatibility error messages? That > was what??? Some programmer was just kidding right.... I'm not sure that I get your point here. Are you saying that only Microsoft practices this type of "inconvience"? How is this different from AOL breaking Microsoft's Messenger product? Please don't answer that until you read more below ... > As for AOL, you miss the point on why people are AOL members. It's > not about the access, it's about the community. Unless you like, > you can't understand that aspect of it. The uniformity of the > content, the ease of use, the ability to interact with many people > in a seamless fashion all make AOL different from any other ISP. > MANY AOL members can't wait to access their favorite AOL content > via cable/DSL or any other hi-bandwidth alternative. No ... I'm sorry, but I don't miss the point. You completely went off on a different tangent and missed my point completely! After studying societal and Internet communities for years I am completely aware of the reasons that people (including relatives of mine) use AOL. The issue that AOL is going to have to deal with is "How much are people willing to pay?" And you set yourself up for that question with the next statement ... > Heck, with outside access, AOL is nearly 55% cheaper ($9.95 per > month as opposed to $21.95) for me. Get faster access to my > favorite stuff and save 55% -- sign me up! Please ... lets not get caught up in silly emotional responses. Your math makes no sense at all. I'm afraid that you forgot to mention the $39.95 Cable Modem fees ... or the DSL fees. The numbers you quote are correct, but I have to ADD the $9.95 to my new high-speed access charges. After I had posted I was driving to lunch and was floored when I heard the new TCI Cable Modem promo on the radio ... here in Salt Lake City! TCI is offering to convert you, and then pay your AOL fees till January ... at which point you will have to make the decision ... do you pay the extra $9.95/month ... I'm sure some people will ... and I'm sure that TCI/@Home will try to offer some nifty conversion tools ... ;-) > As for that MSFT employee sending that note....you make the > assumption that the employee (if there really is one) was acting on > their own and that MSFT is telling the truth. Nope ... I don't assume. If you reread my post I indicated that I think it's silly to believe it wasn't an employee. Please ... think for a second. If Microsoft is powerful enough to influence some admin that happens to be named Eric Schmidt to be quoted and promote Microsoft, then don't you think they could influence almost any Microsoft Developer or shop to write the same mail, from a legit address and company, saying the same things? You want to indicate a conspiracy of some sorts ... but I will disagree and argue that they have some very smart people at Microsoft that shouldn't be underestimated. Your comments make them sound stupid and I believe that's a bad thing to believe. > Sounds to me like a very convenient excuse - some one did it, we > don't know who but it wasn't really from us. Sorry.... oh yeah by > the way, did you read that note, its true. Please, re-read the > article. MSFT first denies doing it on purpose then comes up with a > lame excuse and then asks you to look at the substance of the note > and believe it as truth. Tricky stuff if you ask me. Conspiracy? > As for what AOL is doing blockint out MSFT let see -- MSFT HACKED > into AOL's backend systems to allow access into the Instant > Messanger system for their client. I'm sorry, but this is where you are completely off base and wrong. Up until a couple of weeks ago, AOL published a variety of tools and libraries to develop to the AIM protocols and backend services. It required no hacking. Even the ICQ protocols are available on the net both from Mirabilis and hacked. The reason that I know this is that I too have written test clients that provide the same services. I have downloaded the libraries and experimented with these services. Funny how AOL yanked them from their site once Microsoft used them ... > Sounds like something most people go to court for. Yep ... and lose! ;-) > Why couldn't they just work out a deal with AOL for access like > everyone else? Because they like to play to win ... not to draw. That's the brutal reality of the business world. Some people just weren't made for it ... (P.S. As I stated in my post ... I'll continue to play devils advocate ... please argue with fact ...) (P.P.S. Microsoft made a wonderful move today ... they are going the open route ... news.com ) > Peter J Strifas Scott C. Lemon