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

To: Mitch Blevins who wrote (29163)	9/5/1999 4:53:00 PM
From: axp	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

RE: 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. A delay in 64-bit NT is the biggest impact of Compaq's recent decision to pull support for Windows NT on the Alpha chip. The Alpha chip is mature and has a full set of mature compilers and development tools. I'm a fan of the Alpha chip and I'm surprised and upset that Microsoft didn't push back more on this. It makes Microsoft more vulnerable to 64-bit UNIX vendors deploying large servers for the web. NT doesn't have a stellar reputation for reliability anyway. Windows NT on Merced has to work through the problems associated with a new chip, a new architecture, a new OS (64-bit NT) and new compilers all at the same time. There's no doubt that the IA64 partners will get there eventually, but there's a limit to how much you can speed up this process. Also, reports are that Merced will not even be able to outperform Pentium chips when it first arrives. In this case it will be useful mainly for developers to prepare software until succeeding versions appear (HP's McKinley) and to work out the bugs in 64-bit NT. Note that Compaq is not hurting itself at the same time since it is already selling 64-bit UNIX on the Alpha chip (True64 UNIX). Maybe they just saw the years of continuing development on Alpha NT (32- and 64-bit) as a waste when they have a product that meets the market need today.

To: Mitch Blevins who wrote (29163)	9/5/1999 9:25:00 PM
From: ed	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74651

As a SUNW investor, I think you are frighten to death on the eve of the release of Mercede + Win2000. Well, do not worry, you can jump boat any time !!! The revenue for win OS + Off Software is a very small portion of Corp annual budget, and what is more is that it can be written off against your tax. Say , for a small company with 500 employee, with an annual revenue of $400MM, the total annual expense on WinOS + Off is around $125 per employee, so the annual expense for WINOS + Office is around $75000, and it can be written off against your tax. Can you give me any reason why I should switch to Star Office to save that $50K annually with our annual revenue of $400MM ? Switch from Microsoft Office , which had a past proved record, to Star Office , which did not have any proved record ? I do not want to have our Corp data base got messed up with a software package which I do not know what will happen, say, 3 years down the road, just for the purpose of saving $50k per year. I won't take that risk, and I think other companies will not take that risk either, so everyone just wait and see, so who will jump the boat first ? NO ONE !!!! As a result, Microsoft will still be the standard, Not STAR Office, as times go by, Star Office will just like Lotus 123, Word perfect , got thrown away into the garbage basket. Besides, Microsoft will continue enhance the Office program, I do not know how can Sunw catch up without any revenue from Star Office, As a corp CEO, how, and why should I have confidence to put my eggs in this basket ? Can you tell me ?