Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : All About Sun Microsystems -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Howard Armstrong who wrote (10349)	7/6/1998 9:22:00 PM
From: Tony D.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 64865

I think it has been said here before but IMHO, I don't think SUNW would have made this acquisition if they KNEW they were going to have a bad quarter. It would be bad enough to justify their numbers for a bad quarter but to explain an acquisition on top of it would be too much. I am not saying that they will meet or exceed the concensus number (hopefully they will). If they do miss, I think it will be a small amount like last quarter. In the long run, a miss by a few pennies and a positive surprise by a few pennies averages out. BTW, the so called whisper number (site posted earlier) is actually quite low (0.71 concensus vs. 0.66 whisper). If this number is REALLY the whisper number, hopefully SUNW should have no trouble meeting (or exceeding) it. Again, just my opinion. Good Luck, Tony D.

To: Howard Armstrong who wrote (10349)	7/7/1998 11:29:00 AM
From: Irish99	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 64865

Howard, your questions are right on. While they play games with Java, the use of Java on the web is not going anywhere. Java makes no sense on the client (not true cross platform; too slow). Webmasters are using Javascript (which is unrelated to Java), Dynamic HTML, XML, SMIL, etc. All are cross platform and perform well. They are also tag based (similar to HTML) which makes them more widely used than Java which is a programming language. Lots of Java startups have died (RandomNoise) or been acquired. Netscape killed the Java based browser. At the Web 98 show in SF last month, there was relatively little Java buzz. Java on the Server is now touted as the saving grace, but success in this area has yet to be seen. Now Sun buys NetDynamics. One fly in the ointment is Sun's attitude towards NT - check out the quote from Sun's COO in PC Week Online: "We don't like NT. We think Solaris is a better operating system for servers," Zander said. Would you buy an application development system to run on your NT servers from a company that doesn't like NT???? How will corporate America react. Get away from Silicon Valley and the corporations don't like to be told what hardware they have to buy. The link - zdnet.com. Sun as a software company is an interesting question. You cited Solaris for Intel ("Solaris X86" if I remember correctly). Another example is JavaWorkshop, the Java development tool that Symantec Cafe has bested in the market. I don't think anyone in Redmond is losing sleep over the NetDynamics acquisition. Netscape may not like this given that they bought Kiva. Didn't it seem that Netscape and Sun were allied against MS not too long ago?