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

To: Phillip C. Lee who wrote (11077)	4/12/1998 12:00:00 PM
From: Idomeneus	Respond to of 213176

Phillip-- The specifics of this Microsoft payment seem to be very much under wraps. I have no idea when it kicks in or how much money is really involved, but I do know that this deal is above and beyond the $150 million stock purchase, and almost all people who have commented on it seem to think that the amount of the payment is at least equivalent to that of the stock deal, and probably more. I remember one source rumored to have said that it amounts to "tens of millions per quarter over the next few years", which is the most specific "rumor" that I remember, but keep in mind that these are all just rumors and may have absolutely no basis in fact. According to some of the Mac rumor sites, this seems to have been settled when Apple found that Microsoft had transferred much of Apple's Quicktime code to its Direct X project. Supposedly, Apple received some documentation on this, and brought it to the attention of Microsoft. This also supposedly led to the 5 year agreement announced at that MacWorld Expo (last August) that Apple can use Microsoft patents and Microsoft can use Apple patents without threat of lawsuit. In the final analysis, the only thing that seems sure is that the payment agreement does exist, and that it was/is being kept very hushed. Sorry I can't be of more help. But this is a fact of the Microsoft/Apple agreement that most news sites glossed over or don't even know about. Apple may have had a lot more say in that agreement than most people think. Paul Arthur

To: Phillip C. Lee who wrote (11077)	4/12/1998 12:37:00 PM
From: Idomeneus	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 213176

Phillip, I went to the Apple Press Releases pages and I was wrong--the announcement of the patent settlements between Apple and Microsoft for an undisclosed amount of cash was not stated in the press releases. I know I heard it from some official Apple source, I just can't remember where (I doubt Jobs mentioned it in his keynote). Just so y'all didn't think I was totally making up this fact, I tried to search all the rumor sites for references for it, and failed miserably mostly because I couldn't find archives that far back. I did find one reference to it in my short search, an editorial by Gary W. Longsine on the Stepwise site (a site for OpenStep/Rhapsody enthusiasts): stepwise.com He says a little less than mid-way down the page, in the "The 150 Million Dollar Red Herring" section-- "Of course the additional undisclosed sum for settlement of the patent disputes might double this figure, but we're still talking petty cash." Actually, just about every Mac site commented on the undisclosed settlement back then--pitty I can't find more of the comments on it now. But I just wanted you to know that I didn't just make this up. My last post for the day . . . Paul Arthur