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.

Technology Stocks : How high will Microsoft fly? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: James Fink who wrote (5699)	4/6/1998 11:50:00 AM
From: John F. Dowd	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Dear Jim: I read the same article elsewhere and can only scratch my head and ask what is new? This is the same old stuff with the added "support" of some internal memo that purports to reveal that MSFT felt that they were in a "scary" #2 position and had better do something about it. So they gave their product away. Nothing new here - that is what they did with the original IBM PC. This is another tempest in a tea pot. Have you ever seen this guy Joel Klein. How good can he be if he calls Janet Reno boss. Good buying opportunity if you think all the rest of the fundamentals are in place. Even if the DOJ were to demand a separate Windows 98 I am sure that MSFT is ready to accommodate that demand w/o losing a step. In time after no one buys more than 1% of these things it will be forgotten. If you envy the folks that own MSFT at a lower cost than here is somebody's chance to average down. BUY MSFT on the dips. Regards, JF Dowd

To: James Fink who wrote (5699)	4/6/1998 3:00:00 PM
From: Alan Buckley	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

I've been following the DOJ business closely and have become less concerned over time. There's uncertainty, of course, since the DOJ hasn't said what remedy they seek, but that in itself indicates the charges are political rather than substantial. Politically based charges tend to end in agreements that claim great change but accomplish little, e.g. Klein's comment that hiding the lousy IE icon is "a great victory for entrepreneurs and innovators". Even the most drastic outcome, the splitting of MSFT into separate systems and applications companies, is not necessarily bad news for stockholders. We've already seen articles speculating that MSFT is actually worth more broken into separate companies. Further, it will takes years if not decades for such a result to actually be implemented. What's happened is that MSFTs competitors have spent the last 6 months making sure MSFTs name is all over the press during a period where there have been no major MSFT product announcements. They've done this by announcing publicly and repeatedly that they cannot compete with MSFT. What are customers going to think next year when these same clowns arrive peddling their products against NT5, Windows98, voice-enabled Office, or 64-bit NT? MSFT is going higher long-term.