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Technology Stocks : Wind River going up, up, up! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rich evans who wrote (8465)	9/14/2000 3:13:57 AM
From: Prognosticator	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10309

Don't be alarmed: Microsoft has been making these 'were going to dominate embedded systems' noises for about three years, and are still no closer to their goal, if anything they are further away. Which areas in particular was Microsoft late to and then end up dominating? The only one I can think of is Dos, and the desktop. Where else do they dominate? The biggest threat to Wind was that (at one time) ISI was making sheeps eyes at Microsoft, but I guess Naren couldn't go to bed with Bill, and we all know how it worked out. There is only one way for Microsoft to get a real presence in the embedded space, and that is to purchase WIND. The FTC would block it, just like they blocked Microsoft's failed attempt to dominate financial desktop software by purchasing Intuit. Sleep well. P. It gives some concern to a Wind investor (me) since MSFT was late into other areas as we all know and ended up owning the area. In fact these MSFT people were bragging how they were going to overcome Wind etc in time as they they have did others. Oh well another anecdote in from the locker room.

To: rich evans who wrote (8465)	9/14/2000 10:50:51 PM
From: cfoe	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10309

I wrote the following on the PALM thread concerning the ongoing debate about MSFT handhelds competing with PALM. I think it is relevant to the concern you raised about CE competing in the embedded space. To make the comparison easy, just substitute WIND and its products for PALM and its. Message 14371357 Re: Palm vs MSFT - Gorilla and King, or Gorilla and Chimp? This debate got me to thinking about another book that may speak to the PALM phenomenon and its future. It is The Innovator's Dilemma by Clayton Christensen (CC). I think that the PALM vs. Microsoft story might be better viewed from the perspective of CC's disruptive technology. In many ways MSFT (I use and value their software) were a classic case of "overshooting" the mainstream market. At least the market for small, easily portable "computer." Just like the classic disruptive innovators CC talks about, PALM designed a simple(r) machine that did (comparatively) minimal things very well. While the PALM wasn't (and isn't) "cheap," it is a lot less expensive than a portable computer running Windows. MSFT has answered by trying to "downscale" their "overshoot", i.e., Windows CE. As a pure piece of software, WinCE may be very good. It does not matter. If it is in a disruptive technology game, it is playing the losing hand. It may be the winning hand, or a successful hand in another game; but not in a disruptive technology game. So, if PALM (the software and the form factor) is a disruptive innovation, it needs to keep doing what it is doing and not trying to do what MSFT has already excelled at. One last thought, Gilder has referred to QCOM's CDMA as the ultimate disruptive innovation. Assuming he knows what he is talking about, it could make the eventual full-blown union (not merger, but union) of CDMA and PALM one of the most powerful disruptors to ever hit the economy. All FWIW.

To: rich evans who wrote (8465)	9/15/2000 7:15:06 PM
From: Peter Church	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 10309

These haiku poems help put Microsoft Windows into better perspective for me. -- from Richard Russell: A file that big? It might be very useful. But now it is gone. The Web site you seek Can not be located but Countless more exist. Aborted effort Close all that you have worked on. You ask far too much. Windows NT crashed I am the Blue Screen of Death. No one hears your screams Yesterday it worked Today it is not working. Windows is like that. First snow, then silence. This thousand dollar screen dies So beautifully. A crash reduces Your expensive computer To a simple stone. You step in the stream But the water has moved on, The page is not here.