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

To: Flair who wrote (9509)	7/22/1998 2:57:00 AM
From: Mick Mørmøny	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74651

Orrin Hatch's Hand-holding So, tell me about your mother. Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) is handpicking the next round of survivors for the Microsoft antitrust case hearings. Larry Ellison of Oracle, Mitchel Kertzman of Sybase and Jeff Papows from Lotus are the second set of stars to lay on Hatch's couch and spill their guts about the paranoia and fear mighty Redmond inflicts upon the competition. Three pissed-off executives whose companies could be much richer. One senator looking for his 15 minutes of public-hearing fame. Oh yes, America, the doctor is in. Last installment was the browser wars with Jim Barksdale, Scott McNealy and Bill Gates. The latest figures, instead, are back-end boys as the hearings move "Beyond the Browser," according to the title. (Subtitle: Past and future victims.) Break out the popcorn and SweetTarts and dim the lights, this is going to be good. Just think, after all these years of honing his Windows jokes, Ellison gets to take them to the big time. A few one-liners for the drooling CSPAN watchers, and Ellison will finally get that elusive instant fame forevermore. Twenty years from now his obsessively trimmed beard will look impeccable in the documentary footage about the great 1990s software-industry shakedown. Larry, can you tell me where Bill Gates touched you? And no pro-Microsoft weenies this hearing. After Michael Dell was publicly stoned, the friends of Microsoft are torching all letters sent on official U.S. Congress stationery without opening them. Microsoft has its analyst meeting set for that date, so no Ballmer and no stock drop the day after the hearing. Instead we get Kertzman, who's been rolling up his pants for two years as the Windows NT waters rise up and take on his server business. And Papows, representing IBM Jr., ready to explain how big, bad Windows impinges on the potential of the infinitely elegant Notes framework. What material. Orrin Hatch holding a few hands, passing out Kleenex as three more heavy hitters clip on those tie mikes and kick up their Ferragamos for a good televised cry. Only thing missing is the $250-an-hour fee. Who's next? Content players? Disgruntled entrepreneurs whose startups were bought and summarily executed so Microsoft could annihilate their markets? Seattle Porsche dealers? Can I audition? We know what's going to come out. Through repressed-memory therapy, Hatch's patients are going to speak more and more freely about Microsoft's past abuses. See! That rosy industry facade belied a family of companies full of rage and hate for their unrelenting, dominating father. Seething hate. Stunted emotional growth. Feelings of unworthiness and inferiority, all based on Microsoft's heavy hand. Well, I'm pumped, but will the healing begin? Let's hope Hatch has more up his sleeves than a cathartic showcase. We need innovative alternatives. We need a plan. After the venting, then what? Upside Today