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

To: blankmind who wrote (41660)	4/10/2000 2:06:00 AM
From: John F.	Read Replies (4) \| Respond to of 74651

Microsoft was wrong to have competed in the fashion they have. But, the company will not get what it deserves. The election is just around the corner and both camps know it. Bush was bashing the Justice Dept. (in order to win the favor of MSFT and its vast riches of dollars, stockholders, employees, and business partners). Decided he had gone too far and retracted some statements. The Clinton/Gore camp is even more pathetic. On Tuesday, right after the DOJ ruling, you could turn on the boob tube, pick any channel, and see the President's New Economy Summit in progress. Bill Gates and Bill Clinton, side by side, at the summit table, like old friends, arm in arm. Do I smell something here? Message: "calm down Bill, don't do anything rash...and please don't open your mouth and say something about our system of justice that you might later regret. Bill, don't think for a moment that AL and I are not on your side. I will see if I can pull a few strings and get this thing on a fast track. You can count on us Bill, but we will need your help in November. Unfortunately, in the long run, MSFT will win this one. But, I still think it is disgraceful for Microsoft to have conducted business in the manner it has on some occasions. Microsoft has made a lot of folks rich. No question. But, just like standard oil, its methods deserve to be scrutinized. I may not have all the details here correct, but, the following is an example of Microsoft's lofty approach to competing on the merits of the products you produce: Microsoft goes to Dell, Compaq, HWP and says: If you guys sell any systems at all with Win 95 installed, then we are going to assume that you installed it on every machine. You are going to be charged as if you installed the Win95 software on every machine shipped. So you can install an operating system from one of Microsoft's competitors if you want, but, you still will have to pay us for Win95, even if it was not installed on the computer as shipped. Someone please enlighten me if I am off base. Unfortunately, I am afraid I am not. It is going to be hard to make a convincing argument that Microsoft wins by competing fairly. There is a reason that John Chambers of Cisco is not being attacked in the same fashion that Bill Gates and Microsoft are being attacked. Cisco, EMC, and NOK may own their space..but they got their via a different path. Blankmind, it looks like we differ here. And, I may be way off base. I certainly have not studied this case in detail. But, things sure smell rotten in Denmark to a lot of folks here in the US. It isn't just the DOJ. There is a long list of states that have filed complaints. Good Luck with your investments and trades. Best of Luck to all.