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

To: Hal Rubel who wrote (7602)	5/19/1998 3:03:00 AM
From: Dwight E. Karlsen	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Since you obviously don't realize it, new PCs from Gateway, AST, Packard Bell, etc, ALL come with the respective vendor's logo in PLASTERED all over the whole background, ie the wallpaper of the desktop. I'm very very disappointed with Gateway's whiny, hypocritical, ungrateful, and disingenuous remarks. That from a company that refuses to even offer as an option or standard Corel's WP Suite, and refuses to even offer as an option or standard Netscape's browser, when in fact we find today that Microsoft does not restrict them from doing so. Quantex Microsystems offers Corel WP Suite on both their laptop line and on a multimedia desktop line. HP preinstalls Netscape Navigator as the default browser on some models, as also does I believe Packard Bell. But Gateway offers nothing but Microsoft, then says, ''We don't have a choice,'' an executive of Gateway 2000 Inc. (GTW - news) told the government. Now I acknowledge that this exec was referring to the choice of uninstalling IE. But I don't believe it's the right of the vendor to exclude things that Microsoft wants included. Gateway is a hypocritical company which has done nothing except help Microsoft, by exclusively selling only Microsoft products, at the expense of Microsoft's competitors.

To: Hal Rubel who wrote (7602)	5/19/1998 9:04:00 AM
From: John A. Greenwood	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Hal, > What price are we ultimately willing to pay for uniformity? It seems that you don't realize that you could buy a generic box, then go to the neighborhood computer store and buy SCO Unix or IBM's OS/2. Of course, the applications are going to be more scarce and more expensive. But what the heck, you've resisted uniformity. You see, Windows is a somewhat better than mediocre OS, which runs on a somewhat better than mediocre chip, but the de facto standard that MSFT created in Windows (browser, or not), established a fertile marketplace for developers to target their products, and also created a bargain basement for the consumers to shop in. If Gateway wants to sell only MSFT products (complaining, or not) and you want something else, don't buy from Gateway; somebody else will sell you what you want. Everybody's product has to stand on it's own merits - price, quality, usefulness. If you really want some diversity, buy a DEC Alpha with OpenVMS. That will really set you free. Isn't free enterprise wonderful. Now if the feds would only let us practice it. John PS. Has anybody ever heard of someone who actually paid for a browser - not counting those bundled with something else, such as a modem where a portion of the price could imply payment - where they were aware that they could have any browser ever created for free? Does the for-money version of anybody's browser offer anything special, other than installation hand-holding?