Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Gorilla and King Portfolio Candidates -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: DownSouth who wrote (32452)	9/27/2000 6:26:10 PM
From: Bruce Brown	Respond to of 54805

Can you give us a recap of what precipitated this? I think a post from one of the list members (Doug O.) pretty much sums it up: Given our recent debate over tech vs nontech, 2 lists vs 1 list, manners vs bluntness, I would like to say this kind of comment does nothing for this list!!!! Please edify us not editorialize us. Considering what I've read on this board and the Fool GG board at times, I thought the Bill Meade's GG list was rather well mannered, tame and civilized. Then again, I think driving in Italy is civilized.... BB

To: DownSouth who wrote (32452)	9/27/2000 7:05:50 PM
From: saukriver	Respond to of 54805

G.Moore Post on GGlist on MSFT: "From: Geoffrey Moore <gmoore@exchange.chasmgroup.com> Date: Mon, 25 Sep 2000 04:08:03 -0700 To: Gorilla Game discussion list <gg@webcom.com> Cc: Bill Meade <bmeade@webcom.com> Subject: RE: gorillagame Digest #1033 - 09/20/00 Gang, Got a ping from Bill that the issue of Microsoft's gorillaness is under debate. Would like to weigh in as follows (but do so without context as I have been too swamped in the last 60 days to read my list!). Please excuse if I am being redundant. Microsoft is and will forever be the gorilla in PC OS's and office apps. The issue here, of course, is not the company's GAP and CAP but rather the category's. As we move toward a more net-centric computing paradigm, the balance of power moves away from the client and back to the server. While MSFT has some play at the server end, it is nowhere near as powerful as at the client end. Hence the reconverging of Bill's fortune with Larry's. Going forward MSFT has lots of interesting prospects -- NT, SQL server, Back Office, the X machine, MSN, Windows CE, etc, etc. In none of these areas, however has it established a franchise like the desktop, and so investors are beginning to pull back in their enthusiasm. A worst case scenario would argue that AOL renders MSN irrelevant, Sony or someone else renders the X machine the same, the set-top box guys go with Java and Sun, the cell phone guys with Symbian or Palm, and NT servers get boxed in to essentially LAN servers on the Internet, doing intranet functions only--all capped by a PC category that stagnates as more and more client services go to non-traditional client appliances. In that scenario MSFT going forward is worth a fraction of its current market cap. The upside scenario says that MSFT wins at least one and ideally two of the major battles it is in. The good news is that they have cash hoards that let them stay in games long after most of their rivals pull out. They also have an extremely competitive culture, once they have found the right competitor to target. Personally, I think it is way too early to pull the plug of their gorilla-dom. Look at where Oracle was in 1991. Look at where IBM was in 1992. That being said, I do think they have a tough patch ahead of them as they try to find a sustainable leadership team and a long-term accommodation of the shift in power caused by the Net. Geoff Geoffrey Moore Chairman, The Chasm Group 411 Borel Avenue, Suite 550 San Mateo, CA 94402 650-312-1940 Venture Partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures 2775 Sand Hill Road, Suite 240 Menlo Park, CA 94025 650-854-7236"