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

To: ed who wrote (29160)	9/5/1999 12:56:00 PM
From: Tony Viola	Respond to of 74651

ed, SUNW is frighten to death at this moment on the eve that Mercede 64 bit processor is ready to be released with powerful NT OS. Most of the companies will switch to the new system as far as I know, because the Unix system is hard to use for most of the non computer professionals, even the professionals, and need a lot of training. But for Window based system , is a different story, because we all use WIN 98 at home , at work and in school. I am afraid a lot Unix folks will lose their jobs as a result, that is why we have so many Microsoft haters on this thread. LOL. You could wreak some serious havoc on the Sunw thread. Ever been over there? I drop in once in a great while, try to be my usual diplomatic self in my 'well, there are other things under the Sun besides Sun and Solaris.' They about have a caniption-fit, go nuts, and I leave. Actually, Sun was one of the first to announce that they would support bringing up Solaris, their flagship version of Unix, on Merced. But, they will not build a server out of Merced, or at least it would have to be over McNeally's dead body. It's going to be one interesting war, the 64 bit one. I have a good seat, bring it on. Tony

To: ed who wrote (29160)	9/5/1999 1:00:00 PM
From: Mitch Blevins	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74651

ed, your post jumps around like a jackrabbit from one unrelated topic to the next. I'll have to split it up to make some sense of it... Well, When a product(s) is bundled with other product, you can call they are free or they are not , and which is part of the price of the total package, depending on how you call it. For me , I will continue to pay less than $100 ( say, upgrade every four to five year) every year to use the Microsoft Office, because 1) Less than $100 is a very small portion of my budget 2) I want to use a software which most people are using 3) Trust, Microsoft will continue to improve its product with deep pocket, and I want to use a product of quality and which will be continue improved from time to time, and guarantee compatibility as office being improved continuously and new features being added. Yes, Star office may be competible today , then how about tomorrow or two years from now when the new features of Microsoft Office and Microsoft other products being added? Should I switch back to Microsoft Office again then? You make very good points for why someone who already uses MS Office may want to stay with it instead of trying a competitor such as StarOffice. But the market is expanding, and MSFT must also capture all the new users who have never owned an Office Suite before. With Internet Explorer, MSFT has shown that including it on newly purchased computers is very effective at capturing the new-user market. It seems logical that most computer OEMs will now be including StarOffice on the computers they sell, and why not?... it is free after all. It is not clear that MSFT can lower the price of MSOffice to a point where OEMs will include it and still keep a hold of that wonderful 40% revenue/50% profit... especially with the price of computers falling into the $500 range. Also, once the expanding market begins using something other than MSOffice, all your compatibility arguments become moot. And at that time how can I convert the Star Office based file to Microsoft Office's format? If I can't, then I am completely skewed up. Since StarOffice will save data into MSOffice format, I assume it will be as compatible as if you had upgraded from an earlier version of MSOffice. SUNW is frighten to death at this moment on the eve that Mercede 64 bit processor is ready to be released with powerful NT OS. Most of the companies will switch to the new system as far as I know, because the Unix system is hard to use for most of the non computer professionals, even the professionals, and need a lot of training. But for Window based system , is a different story, because we all use WIN 98 at home , at work and in school. I am afraid a lot Unix folks will lose their jobs as a result, that is why we have so many Microsoft haters on this thread. Uhh.. I thought we were talking about Office Suites. ;-) Well, for Bill's sake I hope you are right about the wild success of "Mercede". They sure do seem to be betting the whole boat on just one architecture. All the competition has their eggs spread out across several chips. Sunw' Java will not fly at all, because 90% of the PC are using Microsoft's window, not Unix I thought Java was meant to run on both Windows PCs and Unix. :) and CE is a simplified version of Microsoft Window, and no compatability problem when talk to PCs. Most reviewers seem to think the Palms sync better with Windows, but I'm sure you've done your own testing and concluded otherwise. Funny how the Palms also sync well with other operating systems, in addition to Windows. -Mitch

To: ed who wrote (29160)	9/5/1999 1:08:00 PM
From: d[-_-]b	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74651

ed, re: Most of the companies will switch to the new system as far as I know, because the Unix system is hard to use for most of the non computer professionals, even the professionals, and need a lot of training. The folks using UNIX today are not Office workers, UNIX has little to fear from NT. The folks using UNIX today are engineers, they use software unavailable on NT. I dare you to go to Cadence Design and get a copy of Silicon Ensemble for NT. That's not to say it won't be available some day, but not now. re: SUNW is frighten to death at this moment on the eve that Mercede 64 bit processor is ready to be released with powerful NT OS. Sure they are, they've had a 64 bit cpu for awhile and a 64bit OS (Solaris 7) for awhile now. They're just shaking in their booties. Did you know a SparcUltra 5 with 128MB ram, 9GB drive and 370Mhz cpu sells for $3595. Not all that expensive is it? re: I am afraid a lot Unix folks will lose their jobs as a result, that is why we have so many Microsoft haters on this thread. Damn, I'll have to look for a new job? Just like all those unemployed mainframe and cobol programmers. PS: I'm not a MSFT hater, I've been invested in MSFT since 91 - I love'em - but unlike you I see peaceful co-existance not a black and white end of the world for UNIX scenario.