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Technology Stocks : All About Sun Microsystems -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: paul who wrote (27885)	2/17/2000 2:46:00 AM
From: Rusty Johnson	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 64865

Microsoft Aims at Sun Micro With Windows 2000 Launch By DAVID BANK and DAVID P. HAMILTON Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL REDMOND, Wash. -- Steve Ballmer has a message for Scott McNealy: It's payback time. And this time, it is personal. The chief executive of Microsoft Corp. says Windows 2000, which will be formally released Thursday, is aimed straight at software markets traditionally dominated by Unix-based computer systems, and in particular by Sun Microsystems Inc., the leading Unix provider. And because Mr. McNealy, Sun's chief executive, has been one of Microsoft's most outspoken critics, Mr. Ballmer is already savoring what he believes will be the taste of eating Sun's lunch. "Where are we going to have fun today?" Mr. Ballmer asked in an interview on Microsoft's campus on the eve of the product's launch. "Helping customers and taking market share from Sun." Warming to his new mantra, he repeated: "Helping customers, taking share. Help, share. Help, share." Both companies use the rivalry as a marketing tactic to highlight their contrasting approaches to computing. But Mr. Ballmer made clear the personal animus is also very real, noting that he hasn't spoken to Mr. McNealy in years and would have a "hard time" chatting with him. Mr. Ballmer blames Sun for "whining" to antitrust regulators in the U.S. and Europe and for pursuing its own federal lawsuit against Microsoft for its use of Java software licensed from Sun. "I just think it's irresponsible behavior," Mr. Ballmer said. "It has gone beyond the ha ha ha, funny-guy phase." ... "We're going to eat and eat and eat," Mr. Ballmer said. It may take a while, he said, but "all they can do is lose. They have no upside. They're on the downside of the slope, baby." ... "They're carrying that big overpriced hardware on their back, and now they're in a dogfight," Mr. Ballmer said. "I just think they're on an outmoded model." Can't wait for Scott's response. I think Steve's got an outmoded model of big, overpriced software on his back. Subscribe to wsj.com