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

To: techtonicbull who wrote (30291)	4/7/2000 4:40:00 PM
From: Tecinvestor	Respond to of 64865

I guess it would depend upon my confidence in ultimate success on appeal. If I were very confident about prevailing on appeal, I would probably counsel to hang in. However, I don't believe MSFT ultimately will prevail on appeal. At best, I think they will have a difficult road. Frankly, I would have counseled MSFT to settle prior to Judge Jackson's findings of fact in October. Now their dilemma is much more difficult. MSFT has a serious problem. IMHO, delay is not in MSFT's best interest at this time. The threat of a proliferation of civil suits is a serious problem. Many of these suits, and prospective suits, may use the Jackson decision as a predicate, but diverge with separately actionable elements. MSFT's reputation is becoming increasingly tarnished. Gates looks bad, as does Ballmer. The problem is it is not at all clear what the government and the various states are expecting to accomplish. I get the feeling that nothing short of a breakup will satisfy all the plaintiffs. This only compounds MSFT's predicament. But, hey, I'm only an investor. The only reason I care about MSFT at this point is because I have such a large stake in SUNW and believe MSFT's loss is SUNW's gain. (Parenthetically, I do use MSFT's software and have found it to be quite satisfactory.) Scott McNealy must be feeling great about this whole thing. However, I do wish he'd tone it down a bit. I understand the elation of winning a big case, but sometimes "less is more." If I were McNealy, I would stay calm and cool. Often, "no comment" is not a bad thing to say. JMHO. Best. Tec.