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Technology Stocks : MSFT Internet Explorer vs. NSCP Navigator -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Reginald Middleton who wrote (14276)	11/19/1997 5:09:00 PM
From: Charles Hughes	Respond to of 24154

>>>VBA is innovative. I don;t see any other Web servers We talk real innovation and you talk web server features? I'm afraid your perspective is from below ground. You say that innovators get punished and their enterprises go under? Really? Xerox, Sony, Edison, Bell, IBM, DOD, USA, Japan, Ford, hello? I admit that technological parasites often have an easier short term time of it. But parasites bite the dust as often as any other kind of startup (or established giant corporation.) BTW, 3Com: A better choice for early popularizer of the LAN. And invented at Xerox (and IBM, if you count their old protocols, which you should.) And about Wang: Dr Wang invented core memory before he founded Wang the computer company. It was that invention that made his families fortune, some of which they still have in spite of his heirs running Wang into the ground after his departure. Mostly, I might add, because they got the kind of reputation Microsoft now enjoys, and people in the long run reefused to put up with them or their tactics. Genius is seldom heritable, unfortunately, the Huxleys aside. Chaz

To: Reginald Middleton who wrote (14276)	11/19/1997 8:09:00 PM
From: cheryl williamson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

Reg, Are you British? You sound like somebody's grandmother wagging your finger at all of us while explaining to us the basics of capitalism. Please carefully re-read Charles Hughes' list of companies that have benefited financially from inventions in the software business. I think you'll agree that it is not unsubstantial or rare. As for Virtual Memory. It was invented by An Wang when he worked for IBM, and has absolutely nothing to do with Wang Labs, his office-automation company. You wouldn't argue that IBM has not benefited substantially from the invention of VM, now would you Reg? Let us not forget "PC Windowing Apple" - this is not true, for they got the idea from someone else Oh yeah? Who did they get it from, Reg? Bill Gates? cheers, cherylw

To: Reginald Middleton who wrote (14276)	11/22/1997 6:03:00 AM
From: nommedeguerre	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 24154

Reg, It is true that Microsoft is in the business of selling software. What is it selling with Internet Explorer though? Giving away non-innovative software for free is not exactly a paradigm shift (a high-brow way of saying "out with the old, in with the new"). Do you honestly believe the goal of IE freeware is to enhance Windows and not to capture the web browser market? It would be interesting to see how the free-market would react to IBM giving away OS/2 bundled with its Lotus SmartSuite. FREE high-quality OS and FREE high-quality office tools -- what could be better for the consumer than that? This would of course be ethical since they only wish to continue to ensure that Gen X'ers enjoy for years to come, the same old integrity and uniformity of the Big Blue Experience. > As a subtle reminder, the inventors of a technology are rarely the > ones that reap the financial benefits from it. This is due to allocation > of resources. Doesn't this go against the Regimodel concept of "R&D" expenditures driving corporate growth? Why invest in companies that throw their money away on R&D if it doesn't pay! Who does Boeing rely on for new aircraft innovations? Intel introduced the first general-purpose microprocessor and look how they have suffered. In your defence, I believe what you are really trying to say is that research activities such as industrial espionage offer a higher return per investment dollar than a more traditional approach to nurturing new products. Plagarize, plagarize, let no others' work evade your eyes. If Visicalc leads to Lotus leads to Excel then what is to keep Excel from leading to spreadsheet@www.companyX.com? Microsoft has to establish itself on the Internet or relegate itself to being a niche market of "stand-alone" software products. Sound familiar. Cheers, Norm

To: Reginald Middleton who wrote (14276)	11/23/1997 7:41:00 PM
From: Keith Hankin	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

OK, here's MSFT's own definition of "innovate", from Bookshelf: innovate innovate (Œn'e-vƒt') verb innovated, innovating, innovates verb, transitive To begin or introduce (something new) for or as if for the first time. verb, intransitive To begin or introduce something new. [French innover, from Old French, from Latin innovƒre, innovƒt-, to renew : in-, intensive pref.. See IN-2 + novƒre, to make new (from novus, new).] - in'nova'tor noun - in'novato'ry (-ve-t“r'ˆ, -tor'ˆ) adjective The American Heritager Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition copyright c 1992 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from InfoSoft International, Inc. All rights reserved. So, what has MSFT done that is new? My understanding that VBA supports crash-proofedness in the same way as Java via lack of pointers and adding garbage collection. Nothing new here. >>> Let us not forget "PC Windowing Apple" - this is not true, for they got the idea from someone else, but look at where Apple is any way. They failed to commoditize their product, hence had market share snatched away. So you're saying that MSFT commoditized the PC? I don't think so. This was out of their hands. Had it been up to IBM, this would never have happened. MSFT has Compaq, Chips and Technologies, and other companies that created the PC clone market to thank for this. MSFT made their way on the coattails of IBM, and not due to any superior technology, marketing, commoditization, or anything else that they did. The only thing I give them any credit for is realizing that they did not need IBM and could go their own way. But this was not really such a brilliant sort of realization anyways.