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To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (15796)	1/5/1998 6:18:00 PM
From: Daniel Schuh	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24154

Street taken aback by Netscape loss news.com More analysis and head scratching. The company had cited pricing pressure from Microsoft and IBM's Lotus as pulling down its enterprise-related sales. Kiggen pointed out that large deals in the enterprise space are negotiated on an individual basis, ruling out a scenario in which Microsoft or IBM had come in with a list price that undercut Netscape. Nevertheless, he said, "These are big companies that use any given number of measures to win business, including...price." Although demand for Netscape's products remains strong, Kiggen said the problem the company is facing stem from an inability to close deals. He said that some of the deals the company had in the pipeline at the close of the fourth quarter may now slide over into the first quarter, while others may be lost altogether to competitors. What's the solution? Free Software! During a conference call with analysts, Smith said Jim Barksdale, Netscape chief executive, strongly indicated that the company would make its browser available for free during the next few weeks, a move that would follow in the footpath of Microsoft's efforts in the browser space. Although Smith applauds that strategy, he estimates it will cut out more than 20 percent of the company's revenues. A shift toward free browsers would not only affect the revenues generated from the company's standalone products, he said, but also would affect bundled products that may get repriced downward. I don't know. There's always IBM waiting in the wings, I guess. They could follow Bill Fischofer's recommendation of buying Netscape, then shutting it down. Or something. Cheers, Dan.

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (15796)	1/5/1998 6:29:00 PM
From: Daniel Schuh	Respond to of 24154

Poorly timed outage at Hotmail news.com This one comes with a new euphemism that I'm sure Bill will appreciate. The "special system condition," as Hotmail puts it, comes less than a week after the closely held company agreed to be bought by Microsoft to make free email a feature of the Microsoft Network. Some analysts speculate the stock deal could be worth between $300 million and $400 million--surprisingly high for a barely two-year-old company--but Hotmail and Microsoft declined to comment. "Microsoft buys Hotmail [and] a few days later, frequent Hotmail outages begin to occur. Hmm," mused one user to CNET's NEWS.COM. Another said he was switching to another free email account in light of Microsoft's buyout. Well, I may be paranoid, but not on this one. Hotmail may be quickly adapting the Microsoft Way with language, but I assume their software didn't cut over to Exchange in the space of a week or so. Everybody wants email, but from my old network hand days I know it's the most tedious code in the world. Seems nobody can get it to scale very well. Cheers, Dan.

To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (15796)	1/5/1998 6:36:00 PM
From: Daniel Schuh	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 24154

Lessig suggested suing MS news.com This story is a bit confused, make of it what you will. Offhand, I'd say that if the higher courts rule Jackson has the right to appoint the Special Master to begin with, they won't block a particular choice, but we'll see. The email, sent to a Netscape Communications executive in June, complains that after installing the Microsoft Web browser on his Macintosh, Lawrence Lessig was unable to use features of Netscape's software. "This is making me really angry," the email states. "Charlie Nasson thinks we should file suit." It was not immediately clear who Nasson is. From my experience, I'd say that anybody who hasn't gotten really angry after installing some Microsoft product or another is leading a charmed life, but maybe I'm jinxed, or just a victim of bad attitude. As always, stay tuned. Cheers, Dan.