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Strategies & Market Trends : Cents and Sensibility - Kimberly and Friends' Consortium -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mr. Big who wrote (57356)	1/5/2000 4:17:00 PM
From: crimson	Respond to of 108040

Is anybody besides me playing PHCM? Up another $8+ today.

To: Mr. Big who wrote (57356)	1/5/2000 4:18:00 PM
From: Art M	Respond to of 108040

BIG my gift to you for a little running around money next week. Message 12474809 This guy moves markets. I am at the table, do you want to deal? Mohahahahah Art

To: Mr. Big who wrote (57356)	1/5/2000 4:21:00 PM
From: puborectalis	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 108040

LNUX.....2HRS2GO: VA Linux CEO wants end to unreal PR By Sergio G. Non 22GO ZDII Trading hype made VA Linux CEO Larry Augustin a paper billionaire, but he wants the Linux frenzy to calm down. "There's obviously a mix of people who trade on the market: Some people who trade off whatever's hot, and some people who trade on the longer term," Augustin said this morning. "One of things that concerns me about Linux right now is the effect of -- we call it the K-Tel effect: you announce that you're going to use Linux to run something, and your stock goes up. "I'm worried that that's going to sort of damage the reputation around companies and Linux. It's very important that you people help to filter out all those things that are real versus not real." Which no doubt was one of Augustin's reasons for going on a media tour following the end of VA Linux's post-IPO quiet period. His latest trek took him this morning to ZD's Manhattan office, where he chatted 35 or 40 minutes with a pair of "you people", in the form of ZDII Editor Larry Dignan and me. Have an opinion on this? Add your comments to the bottom of this page. (Cheap Plug: A much longer, more complete version of Augustin's conversation will be available on ZDII later. And you'll get to read it without the clutter of worthless commentary from a ZDII hack.) Augustin obviously carries a bias in describing his own company as real while consigning K-Tel International (Nasdaq: KTEL) to the realm of Linux phantasms. But just because he's biased doesn't mean he isn't right. You'd be correct in lambasting the market for conferring multibillion market caps on money-losing Linux outfits like VA Linux. Yet Augustin's company at least has a full commitment to the brainchild of Linus Torvalds. Sadly, most Linux-related press releases have been coming from companies that can hardly claim any sort of pure devotion. Whether it's "K-tel International Selects Red Hat Linux as New Operating System" or "Dunn Delivers Linux Servers" or "Learn2.com Expands Courseware Offerings into the Linux Market", it's blather coming from companies that get hardly any Linux revenue now and likely won't get a large portion of their revenue from Linux in the foreseeable future. Putting out PR for the sake of cheap attention isn't a bad thing in and of itself, except for momentum traders who jump in too late. But it dilutes the message of companies actually depending on Linux for a living. And it'll continue doing that until hype retreats and momentum traders find a new technology (Prediction: Optical computers within five years. Why? I don't know, but it sounds good) to hype. In the meantime, Augustin hopes that will leave a pool of patient Linux investors. "I don't know how long it will take," he said. "It's better, the sooner it moves into a long term, so when announcements come out they're serious announcements, they're not just press to get an association with a hot term. I think the sooner those things happen the better off it is for everyone." Other issues:

To: Mr. Big who wrote (57356)	1/5/2000 4:28:00 PM
From: If only I'd held	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 108040

CBLT..Did you ever look at the book value of that one?? Robbie Stephens pump and dumped it a while back. You might remember. He put a $50 target on it at 12 and sold it all the way down to the 5's and wouldn't touch it in the 5's. I don't know what happened to the book value on yahoo, but it used to say something like -$16 or so. Yeah, that's a minus. Tokyo Joe has been pumping it for the past month. I have a small position, but if you all want to bid it high enough, I'll be glad to let you have it. I'll bet that's Joe's goofs bidding it up. Best be careful. Uhh, just dumped mine for 15-1/2. Glad to see it go for now.