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

To: Deliveryman who wrote (6875)	5/11/1998 2:58:00 PM
From: trouthead	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74651

I think people get too emotionally caught up in the pro MSFT or anti MSFT rhetoric. MSFT may have taken some questionable actions regarding the requirements it placed on box mfgs to carry the windows OS. But basically they're getting hammered for having competed too well. I take my hat off to Bill and co. for the work they have done. But I still have reservations on whether what is happening is a good thing for the industry and the economy in general. What they are doing that is potentially dangerous is sub-suming functions into an operating system that is ubiquitous. This gives them tremendous leverage and discourages small companies from trying to innovate and compete. MSFT can afford to give away the functions of your software for years until you run out of money and disappear. I know because I have worked for such a small company. Maybe we weren't smart enough and had we examined the problem more closely we would have seen how to compete with MSFT. We lasted about 5 years as competitors to MSFT's email product. Eventually sales dried up and the company was bought by a larger holding firm which has now divested it's interest in the software biz. It be gone. Why hasn't someone tried to write a competing OS that runs all the current software. OS2 was an attempt, but it was a lame attempt. Plagued by install problem it collapsed under the weight of it's own ineptitude. One thing MSFT does very well is they make it very easy to install, setup and use their software. Reducing the barrier to using a product is a large part of the battle. Once someone is using it, they become accustomed to how it works and do not want to switch. What I would like to hear is not how screwed up and unfair MSFT is, but how can the other players compete more effectively. bps