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Technology Stocks : Compaq -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: rudedog who wrote (23570)	3/28/1998 4:44:00 PM
From: Elwood P. Dowd	Respond to of 97611

Gates sez.................................... chron.com

To: rudedog who wrote (23570)	3/28/1998 4:47:00 PM
From: David B. Higgs	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 97611

Article in today's Houston Chronicle where Bill Gates comments on Compaq networking in-home PCs. 8:40 PM 3/27/1998 Gates Gates says Compaq networking Home PCs could connect to others By DWIGHT SILVERMAN Copyright 1998 Houston Chronicle ORLANDO, Fla. -- Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates says Compaq Computer Corp. is working on consumer PCs that let owners create a home computer network linked by existing phone wiring. The Presario computers, which could appear as early as this fall, would render simple a process that long has been considered too technical for most home users. "You don't have to do anything new to network your computers together," Gates said. "You just plug in the phone cable and the machines work together." Gates may be talking about the feature, but Compaq executives aren't. Mike Rubin, a director in the Presario desktop division, wouldn't discuss the home networking feature. But he did say that Compaq is exploring home networking as part of an "overall vision" that is combined with high-speed Internet access. "We also believe that as the World Wide Web becomes more important to people's lives, it will be much more important to have access to that connectivity in all different parts of the house," Rubin said. Compaq announced earlier this year that it would include in its consumer PCs in 1999 the ability to use Digital Subscriber Line technology, a high-speed digital phone line. Compaq is working with Microsoft and many of the regional Bell phone companies, including Southwestern Bell, to ensure their computers have something to hook up to. Gates was in Orlando speaking to the Windows Hardware Engineering Conference, a summit of software and hardware companies that support Microsoft's Windows operating system. Home networks were being touted by several speakers at the conference as the next major trend for home computing. It's the logical extension of the surging popularity of sub-$1,000 personal computers. Analysts estimate that 40 percent of the inexpensive machines sold in the fourth quarter of 1997 in the United States were into homes that already had computers. The computer industry is just beginning to take advantage of the trend. Sharewave, a small Californiastart-up partly funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, recently hired Jim Schraith away from Compaq to be its new chief executive, and plans to release its first entertainment-based home network product later this year. Sharewave is developing a wireless technology that will let devices communicate using radio waves. And traditional companies such as Netgear, a subsidiary of hardware giant Bay Networks, have begun marketing home network kits. They come with a pair of network cards, cables and a hub, a small box that serves as a switching station for the network. But while those kits are relatively basic, and Windows 95 and the Macintosh operating systems make networking a lot easier than in years past, home PC owners still need a basic knowledge of how a network operates to get them up and running. The Compaq technology described by Gates is similar to others, including one being developed by Intel Corp. that would use a home's electrical wiring to link computers together. "Consumers do not want to rewire their houses," Rubin said. Gates said that, while Compaq's technology is intriguing, it's still too early to say which if any of the alternatives being developed will become a standard.

To: rudedog who wrote (23570)	3/29/1998 11:13:00 AM
From: Nicholas	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 97611

Thanks for the response. I must have missed the post regarding Mr. Pieper. I did manage to hunt down his pay out after leaving Tandem. He pulled in a cool $6 million in cash along with 650,000 Compaq options. Those options if exercised in the Feb. Form 144 had a strike price of $34.45/share for a grand total of 22 million. **** OT, could you tell me where you got your promo copy of Chrome. I just had a cable modem installed and I am itching to push it to the limit. Regards, Nicholas