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To: JMD who wrote (3456)	5/5/2001 11:49:21 AM
From: Wyätt Gwyön	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74559

JMD, I agree that MSFT is pretty unique among tech stocks with its virtual monopoly on OS and incredibly high margins. I'm not suggesting the 30 billion is somehow "on loan"; I believe it is MSFT's free and clear. However, the question of how it got there is still important. Why? Because that has everything to do with how likely MSFT is to grow that 30 billion in the future. If I told you I had a company with $1000 in its coffers and offered to sell you 10% of the company, what would you pay? Well, you would want to know how the cash got there. Let's say the co. won $1000 in the lottery and the money was invested in a CD, and the company had no other operating interests. In that case, you might only want to pay no more than $100 for 10%, since it'd be like putting your money in a CD. However, what if the money got there as a result of operating profits that were forecast to grow at 50% CAGR for the next ten years? Well, you might want to pay more than $100. Maybe you'd pay $1000 for 10% of the co. That's why the question of how MSFT got its money is important. Seeing as MSFT has a market cap of $379 billion, it seems investors are paying more than $10 for each dollar in MSFT's coffers. I believe a very large portion of this 30 billion comes from tax credits generated when MSFT employees exercise options and make payments to the IRS--the taxman treats these gains as compensation paid to employees by MSFT, and thus allows MSFT to write off tens of billions of expenses that are never reported as expenses to the investor. The net effect is billions and billions of dollars in tax credits to MSFT's "coffers". MSFT has also collected billions through the sale of put warrants, and billions more from employees paying the exercise price of their options. Here is an article I just posted to the DELL thread, which goes into MSFT's situation as well in some detail>> prudentbear.com

To: JMD who wrote (3456)	5/5/2001 11:55:00 AM
From: westpacific	Respond to of 74559

I still run some of my non trading systems off Win 95. We are going to get to a point were all these gadgets are just not needed. Keep creating more gadgets, widgets and other crap that just are not needed. This crap of having to have the latest upgrade, newest toy is just stupid Americans throwing good money after bad. Technology in of itself is not the great savior. Now a car I so need, a pair of shoes I do need, food on the table and a roof over my head - I do need. Gadgets - I can live without. And once these Americans have enough debt, they will have had there fill of gadgets. Hollywood, do we really need movies, TV, music - not to survive and much of it is pure trash anyhow. DO not watch much TV myself or go to watch those crap films that Hollywood churns out. As for buying a CD, what for, I can record all I want for free on the radio, loved Napster while it lasted - but once I have to pay for it, forget it. But that is me, I am not your average American, a bit old school you might say. Manufacturing will always win out over postindustrial industries anyday. And this country had better not ignore that fact. West