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To: Venkie who wrote (49132)	6/26/1998 1:22:00 PM
From: Boplicity	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

Donnie you still own Bristol M.? Also, from your buddy Gates. A PC in Every Pot? Gates Makes Predictions as Windows 98 is Launched AOL Investment Snapshot (tm): PEP By Martin Wolk Reuters SAN FRANCISCO (June 26) - Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates predicted explosive growth in household computing over the next three years, saying personal computers were well on their way to being as ubiquitous and revolutionary as the automobile. ''The PC and the Internet are going to be fundamental,'' he said at a media event Thursday to mark the launch of the company's Windows 98 operating system upgrade. ''They're not there yet, but they're certainly on a course to be just like the automobile.'' Gates predicted that 60 percent of U.S. homes would have personal computers by 2001, with 85 percent of those connected to the Internet, which he said represented a far faster penetration rate than that of the automobile. Cars were in only 40 percent of U.S. households 80 years after their invention, he said. Just 20 years after the inception of the PC, the devices are in more than 40 percent of U.S. homes, with about half of those homes connected to the Internet. Windows 98, as the latest platform positioned for home use, is ''an early milestone but a quite significant milestone,'' Gates said. ''Windows 98 is just the beginning,'' he said. ''The majority of what we're going to do is in front of us.'' Windows 98 has gotten a lukewarm response in the trade and general media and among some consumers, and Microsoft officials acknowledge the product is only a modest update of the hugely successful Windows 95 platform launched three years ago. But Brad Chase, Microsoft's vice president for Windows marketing, described the company as heartened by the early retail response, and he said more than 120,000 units had been sold before the formal launch through advance ordering programs. At the launch event in a San Francisco wharf warehouse, viewed by about 100,000 people in theaters and retail stores nationwide, Microsoft promoted the benefits of Windows 98 through videotaped testimonials from students, senior citizens, a quadriplegic and country music star Reba McEntire. Chase made no apologies for the emotional tone of the case studies, which reflected a strong emphasis on home rather than business use of Windows 98. ''The reason I got into this business is the ability to really impact people and how they live their lives,'' he said. ''This is about real customers, and they really do use the product this way.'' Analysts expect a relatively low upgrade rate for Windows 98 among the more than 100 million computers worldwide running Windows 95. But the new system is expected quickly to become virtually the only option available on new PCs in the retail marketplace. Gates said Microsoft would have a major new platform for consumers within about three years. ''Today we don't know exactly what that will be,'' he said. ''But we're driving toward that with even more resources.