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

To: ToySoldier who wrote (8841)	7/1/1998 12:42:00 PM
From: Augustus Gloop	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Toy, Lets just assume you are 100% correct. What software company should we be buying for the future? My belief is that you buy the company not the stock. That type of investment style has given me large gains in good companies. So, working on that premise, what would you buy instead?

To: ToySoldier who wrote (8841)	7/1/1998 1:21:00 PM
From: Reginald Middleton	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Win 98 is selling very quickly in the most porfitable segment possible, the retail stores. The lack of acceptance of NT5 (which I really don't beleive given MSFT's marketing track record) will not hurt the company. This brand new, virgin territory for MSFT. NT 4 has already proven itself as the low end enterprise OS of choice for new buyers. NT5 is going after a target that is nothing but new money for MSFT. The threat if any, will be towards that of the incumbent vendors that MSFT is looking to replace. Namely the big unix guys and the small to medium mainframe vendors.

To: ToySoldier who wrote (8841)	7/1/1998 2:01:00 PM
From: Phil Melemed	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 74651

Damn, we were supposed to be talking to CUSTOMERS? I KNEW there was something we were supposed to be doing with all that extra money! So we don't talk to customers? Well, you know about NT 5.1 (more than I do, that's for sure). So either you are relying on rumors and hearsay, have corporate spies at Microsoft, or someone at Microsoft is talking to you or your customers. 'Fess up, you are a corporate spy, right? Lets's talk about the Jan 1 2000 thing. Let's say that folks do not buy NT5 then. What will they buy? A new Novell O/S? Probably not, they will continue to buy what they already have, based on new machines, new users, and upgraded machines. Especially if they have long-term support agreements with particular vendors. Unless you have info about why someone else will handle the Y2K sales cycle significantly better. Of course it will take a year to evaluate NT5's success. Unlike you seem to imply, I understand that enterprise O/S evaluation and deployment is not a short cycle. It takes a long time to evaluate a new operating system based on retail product (not Beta) and then deploy it to thousands of desktops and hundreds of servers. If you know a way to shorten that cycle. let me know. How long does it take for Novell to deploy a new O/S and declare it a success? And meanwhile, when they are not buying the new version, whose software do they deploy? Also, how do you define success? Number of desktops in use, or number of licenses sold? I know that may seem smarmy, but money IS money after all. And doesn't that influence one's investment strategy? I know it influences mine. About the NT 5.1 thing. I do not know much about this specific release. What I do know is that you never will ship a product if you keep on adding features and fixing bugs. Continued changes will kill a product and a company if those changes interfere with shipping. And it makes no sense to me to wait until a release is on the market before working on a follow-on release. So I expect that planning a 5.1 now only makes sense. As a matter of fact, I expect that many software companies work on multiple versions of products in overlapping cycles to shorten the otherwise too long ship cycles. And it seems an industry-wide convention to only buy based on the point release, not the .0 release. Why shouldn't Microsoft believe in the same magic and plan on a point release as part of deployment strategy? It would be stupid to not have noticed that pattern. Regarding Microsoft FUD and Propaganda, I know I heard similar comments after the many slips and disclosures about Win95. Microsoft is now worth over twice as much as when we shipped Win95. I plan to wait and see, watch sales, talk to my customers, make adjustments and fixes, and overcome obstacles with deployment and new sales, and watch my stock and options go up. (A side note: I see from your profile that you are into penny stocks and speculation. Do you really expect NOVL to become a penny stock, or do you need to update your profile?)

To: ToySoldier who wrote (8841)	7/1/1998 6:27:00 PM
From: mozek	Respond to of 74651

Toy, You obviously have some serious frustration (maybe because you can't be a real soldier?) "Unlike you , I work directly with the customer base that you sell your products to." You don't know if I work with customers at all. Since you actually work for MSFT, ANSWER THE QUESTIONS instead of going on the defensive." Sorry to disappoint you Toy, but there is not one question mark in your message. If there were, I would decide whether I felt like answering or not. Usually, I will respond to a real request for information with information. Your approach tends to be fruitless, but you haven't noticed that your not learning much, have you? "...amazing that you and the other pro-MSFTers cannot answer how MSFT is going to convince the corporate customer to to purchase NT5..." Regarding NT 5, I have never argued with you about that or told you anything of my knowledge of Microsoft's corporate marketing strategy for NT 5. You can say I'm in denial or anything you like. It won't change the fact that I will discuss issues as I see fit. Our company is large enough that we know where MSFT is going in their development over the next couple years. We have already been told about NT5.1." I don't care what company you work for. Unless you are engaging in corporate espionage, you do not know our development plans for the next two years. Keep deluding yourself. "And, in typical MSFT mentality, you will generally catagorize MSFT negative OBJECTIVE news and opinions as drivel." I have not, to my knowledge, ever categorized objective information as drivel, regardless of your ability to capitalize letters. I only categorize contentless, lengthy wastes of time such as your posts drivel. "For the rest of you, please take note how my points have yet to be responded to with counter-points. So guess who is right." I don't know what you mean Toy. I didn't notice one "point" in your post. BTW, I'm pretty busy and will most likely ignore the rest of your drivel. Bye

To: ToySoldier who wrote (8841)	7/3/1998 9:59:00 PM
From: mauser96	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

If I was the purchasing person for new operating systems for a big company, I wouldn't choose NT 5 right after it came out. I would save my job by letting others try it first. After a while, if it is a better OS, and I thought the bugs were out I would be a buyer. The extra CPU speed and memory required to jump to NT will be very cheap by then. When the migration to NT starts rolling, it will be like a herd of buffalo stampeding. Personally, I can't wait to dump my windows system for a more stable NT system.