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

To: PMS Witch who wrote (8234)	6/2/1998 5:04:00 PM
From: Scotsman	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Got me on that one. When Standard was broken up Rockefeller had already retired. I think the board basically broke itself up amongst the babies. Its interesting that soon after the break up they were competing amongst themselves, and one of the products that developed quickly was the catalyst method of cracking crude,which tripled gasoline output. This was started by Standard of Ind when Standard was intact, but they could never get permission to produce it. Once the break up was accomplished, this proved to be so successful that all the others had to pay for the license to use it. I guess Bill could take his pick.

To: PMS Witch who wrote (8234)	6/2/1998 6:29:00 PM
From: Hal Rubel	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74651

Speculation on Breaking Up Microsoft from the Other Camp RE: "Quick question: If MSFT gets broken into pieces, which piece does Bill Gates run?" P. W., no way. The Department of Justice will not break up Microsoft, IMHO. HR PS: However since you asked, here is some personal speculation from an Apple executive. Apple does not appear to favor the break up of Microsoft, but some indication as to how it may cleave is presented: Microsoft Divisions: -- Content Division (Bill Gates) -- Internet Division -- Software Applications Division -- Integration Division Friendly Points Made: -- "Microsoft is as much our partner as it is our competitor," -- "Division of Microsoft would not cause any glee in the home of the Macintosh." -- "Breaking up the behemoth could cause ... confusion in the marketplace" The rest of the article focuses on the non-Microsoft Apple portion of the market and may be of little interest to the general reader on this board. VALLEY BETS ON A FOUR WAY SPLIT By GARRY BARKER MICROSOFT will lose its battle with the US Department of Justice and the 20 state attorneys-general pursuing it through the courts, and will be broken into at least four separate companies. That is the current speculation in the sometimes apocalyptic community of Silicon Valley, says Jeff Martin, senior director, worldwide design and publishing for Apple Computer, who has been visiting Australia. "It's only speculation and a personal view," he said. "It's not Apple's opinion." Indeed, as Martin sets it out, division of Microsoft would not cause any glee in the home of the Macintosh. "Microsoft is as much our partner as it is our competitor," he said. Breaking up the behemoth could cause, at least for a time, confusion in the marketplace and a downturn in computer purchasing, he said. If the DoJ has its way, the Valley pundits are saying, Microsoft will become four companies, each with the core operating system, but each working in separate areas or even competing against each other. There would be, he suggested, a content division. "Bill Gates would want that one. He is fascinated by content and by Hollywood," said Martin. "He hasn't done as well in that area as Steve Jobs has, with Pixar - Jobs really reinvented Hollywood with that technology - but Bill would want it, and I think his wife would, too. "Then we think there could be an application software company. Hopefully, that would be Mac and Windows, but it might be split between the two." Martin said that Apple's forthcoming convergence of Rhapsody and MacOS technology, due to reach the market next year as MacOS X (Ten) was promising enough for Microsoft to use it in its courtroom defence, proposing it as a viable competitor for Windows NT. "Clearly, then, there would be an Internet division that would have to compete on the same ground as Netscape," he said. "And, fourth, would be a server or integration division." Apple was far from gleeful about the legal problems Microsoft now faced, Martin said. "It's a brilliant company in that it always sees the low-hanging fruit; the opportunities. We even admire the way they play dirty and they have the money to spin themselves out of their mistakes, like the one they made on the Internet. They almost missed that. "From an egotistical viewpoint, we would not want people saying that Apple succeeded because Microsoft was broken up. They have done an awesome job supporting the Macintosh with Office 98. From my perspective, they are very important to us," Martin said. But if Microsoft did fall under the legal chainsaws, Apple, now restored to vigor and with the best balance sheet in the US computer industry, would continue to progress. The recently announced consumer-level iMac would be developed and enhanced to become a spectacular success in the consumer and education markets. "We have $US1.6 billion in cash reserves right now," he said. "That could be as high as $3 billion a year from now." Published by The Age Online Pty Ltd ACN 069 962 885 c1998 David Syme & Co Ltd