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To: Daniel Schuh who wrote (19008)	5/14/1998 8:48:00 AM
From: Daniel Schuh	Respond to of 24154

Analysis: Why All Industries Fear Microsoft nytimes.com Note the phrasing. Fear, not hate. As in, I'm a Microphobe. Not as in company line #1, if you have any doubts about where Bill wants you to go today, you're a Microsoft hater. But it is already clear that the impact of the government's policy toward Microsoft extends well beyond the software business, potentially to all manner of industries from autos and banking to travel and entertainment. "Virtually every discussion we have with companies about their strategy begins with one word: Microsoft -- how do you compete against Microsoft in the future?" said David Nadler, chairman of Delta Consulting Group, which advises corporations in many fields. In industry after industry, executives share a sentiment expressed last year by Rupert Murdoch, chairman of News Corp.: "Everybody in the communications business is paranoid of Microsoft, including me." So, which side are you on, boys? Andy "Only the Paranoid Survive" Grove or Bill "Wince will be just like Windows / Don't be paranoid" Gates? Such worries about Microsoft have little to do with intricacies of computer programming. They center on the perception that Microsoft, through its near-monopoly in personal computer operating systems, has a chokehold on the PC desktop, as the main Windows screen is known. What is more worrisome to many people -- and of great concern to the Justice Department -- is that when the Windows desktop is fused with browser software for viewing sites on the World Wide Web, the operating system becomes a portal to the Internet. This makes the desktop extremely valuable real estate. By determining which icons appear on its desktop, Microsoft can steer users of Windows computers to its own sites on the Internet or to the sites of companies that pay Microsoft for a desktop position. But but but . . . Microsoft is just trying to protect the integrity and uniformity of the Windows experience, against those that would slice and dice Windows by removing the sacred icon. "They have to ship the machines the way we build them". There's a roundup of the usual suspects in this article, including my old pal Charles "Rick" Rule, arguing for continuing the Reagan-era moratorium he oversaw. A skeptical conclusion, too: Besides, some analysts say, worries about Microsoft's ruling the Internet are probably wildly exaggerated. Readerman of Nationsbanc Montgomery Securities estimated that Microsoft lost $500 million last year on its Internet commerce and programming ventures. George Colony, president of Forrester Research, asserted: "So far, Microsoft has shown itself to be pretty inept at Internet commerce. I think the idea that Microsoft is going to kill General Motors or Disney someday is nonsense." Maybe that's true, you'd have to take it up with the local new media maven and expert on antitrust law (and everything else). In every other context, Microsoft's triumph is assured and inevitable, but not in this one. As usual, my small mind has a problem with that analysis. Cheers, Dan.