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Technology Stocks : IBM -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Charles Tutt who wrote (6484)	6/26/2000 10:09:00 AM
From: Arrow Hd.	Respond to of 8220

Charles, this goes back to the inception of the PC industry where there were two architectures. And there were multiple OSs too which is not really the case today. So IBM compatible manufacturers cross-licensed so they could build machines that ran MSFT and IBM software and in the process IBM got paid for this. There are actually OEM agreements that are based upon volume shipments. The OEM supplier gets X dollars per serial number or license of product shipped by the buyer. I have written these kind of contracts but they are burdensome logistically and fraught with fraud. So most deals are more macro oriented with a simpler methodology. In that sense, it is fair to question my statement of "each and every PC" since it is not likely any of the existing deals are counting each and every PC but on a macro basis IBM gets paid for whatever IBM provides which today is more IP oriented though we have also seen deals with a number of manufacturers where IBM is now supplying commodity which is mainly hardware but undoubtably includes some microcode or other software hooks. OT: I visited the MSFT thread looking for info on last week's MSFT Strategy Forum in particular, discussion of Internet Telephony and how that plays in MSFT's new platform, and though I got a few good replies I was hoping to hear your thoughts. If you have a chance I am still interested. Thanks in advance.