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

To: cheryl williamson who wrote (33220)	11/8/1999 3:32:00 PM
From: Brian Malloy	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Cheryl, If you want a public domain OS then use Linux or better yet tell your beloved SUNW to give Solaris away for free. You state: "The O/S should be public domain because it drives the hardware". Nice opinion; unfortunately, that isn't the way it works. The chain starts at the programming language level be it C or whatever one chooses to write the O/S or application in. The CERN oversees the languages upon which all else is built. Have you forgotten your roots, or are you allowing your hatred of MSFT to interfere with your objectivity. Regards,

To: cheryl williamson who wrote (33220)	11/8/1999 3:34:00 PM
From: Ritch	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

The O/S should be public domain because it drives the hardware, which is public domain. This a totally ridiculous statement. The hardware configuration might be public domain, but not the components! Try to copy INTC's pentium chips and see how fast you get sued! It is true that you can design your own chip to do the same thing, but INTC does not supply the internal code to make it easy for you. How many other O/S's do you see out there that are in the public domain? While I am sure there are a few, Linux is the only one that comes to my mind. This is only one version of UNIX on the market. Most other versions are proprietary. All Main Frame O/S's are Proprietary, as is Apples, and most others. If you put an O/S into the public domain, you will begin to have many flavors of this O/S as everyone starts to make their own versions. Standardization of Windows is what has made this O/S the dominant system it is today. Putting it into the public domain would be the beginning of the end for the Windows O/S IMHO. Ritch

To: cheryl williamson who wrote (33220)	11/8/1999 3:39:00 PM
From: rudedog	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74651

Cheryl - re: DELL, CPQ, Gateway etal. are screwdriver companies, not engineering companies You need to check your facts. CPQ's patent portfolio is many times larger than Sun's, and includes most of the key patents for clustering, as well as key silicon patents related to (GASP) superscalar architecture... The rest of your argument is pretty silly too. Somehow intellectual property rights disappear if the product runs on hardware made by more than one vendor?