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

To: Kashish King who wrote (46373)	6/10/2000 1:09:00 AM
From: foobert	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Low level, not low caliber. His greatest personal achievement that became the seed of what is now Microsoft was the development of the first BASIC interpreter for the Altair computer. He did this at a very young age, using some kind of assembly (low level) language. I consider that to be a tremendous technical acomplishment for the time. He then was able to sucessfully market the product under his new company. This went against the "software is free" mindset of the era. This successful marketing of a new product is another great achievement. He was also smart enough to know when to buy a product for resale (DOS) rather than take the time to develop one from scratch when he saw that he may have a large customer (IBM) waiting for such a product. Some may see this as greed, I see these as smart business moves. (why didn't I do all that?)

To: Kashish King who wrote (46373)	6/10/2000 5:11:00 AM
From: Thunder	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74651

This legal battle has cost Microsoft's shareholders about 200 billion and change in lost market cap, but that's not what is driving Gates. I am sure he would rather lose it all, and have the shareholders lose it all with him, than bend. Just think: How much more it could have cost, as well as lost if not contended. As a shareholder myself, the battle of which you speak about, most likely would have cost the shareholders as well as the consumers, and more importantly the citizens; far more in the long run if Microsoft would have capitulated to "bend", as you say. The only "bending" that needs to take place right now, is this F.U., executive administration, to do what is right. Plain and simple. Bill Gates' conviction & determination, on the behalf of the shareholders of Microsoft to stand up to, as well as fight extortion, deserves nothing less than complete praise on his behalf. Due to the fact that we reap what we sow, you will someday thank Microsoft and their efforts, for what they have courageously defended with great cost. Freedom. Cordially, Gary

To: Kashish King who wrote (46373)	6/10/2000 3:16:00 PM
From: TigerPaw	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

A lot of people considered Bill Gates to be a low-caliber software developer Back in the 1970s I reverse engineered the Microsoft code for several BASIC products. (My failed company plan was to introduce compatible interpreters which used the same tokens as Microsoft but displayed in a Foriegn Language imitation of basic). I'm no fan of Microsoft, but I can assure you that the code was clean, organized, and efficient. I was a big Microsoft booster until they crushed Borland (a real innovator) and forced a re-design of my products such that my company and consulting never recovered. TP