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Technology Stocks : RealNetworks (NASDAQ:RNWK) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Scott C. Lemon who wrote (971)	7/26/1998 4:58:00 PM
From: MR. PANAMA (I am a PLAYER)	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5843

Scott....ya musta taken a lotta shit when young with DA Name Lemon ...hahahaha

To: Scott C. Lemon who wrote (971)	7/26/1998 5:06:00 PM
From: jjs_ynot	Respond to of 5843

Scott, I first started to observe this trend with Windows 95 creating a payment reminder that I couldn't get off my desktop once it was started. Microsoft forcibly channels you into their universe of Internet content and commerce. I hate being played for a patsy. Now Ms will control my cookie file and profile this user and every other, especially if they move to e-bill and e-pay. They can then profile how you look and HOW YOU SPEND YOUR MONEY. Dave

To: Scott C. Lemon who wrote (971)	7/26/1998 8:01:00 PM
From: SLJ	Respond to of 5843

Scott, You're right on target. The forest is the issue. A few posters on Yahoo Board have repeatedly pointed out the danger that MSFT represents to the future of the Net as we know it. Practically no company is secure, not AOL, Yahoo, TechStocks, commercial and entertainment links, etc. since MSFT will make it all so simple by bundling its choices into IE and providing ISP and portal. From the investment standpoint, it will reduce opportunities enormously since there will be fewer companies and fewer startups. Fewer and fewer entrepreneurs in the future would want to go through the exercise if MSFT simply adopts, absorbs or imitates all worthwhile new technologies and then includes them in IE. Look how the investment scenario opened up when AT&T was split up -- and this was driven by an upstart company called MCI. In the years since, with additional legislation opening up telecommunications, there have been hundreds and hundreds of new companies to invest in including equipment manufacturers and suppliers, long-distance carriers, even the baby bells. RNWK is no MCI, but maybe a coalition of companies with support from concerned citizens, consumer advocates, elected officials, government agencies, etc. can bring this thing under control. Of course, keeping MSFT together, from an investment standpoint, will certainly serve the interests of MSFT investors (though AT&T investors at the time of the breakup have done fine). But reining in MSFT and creating a more open playing field, more competition, more innovation would, as in the AT&T case, create more capital and help drive the economy as well as Wall Street. From more philosophical perspectives regarding the chilling effect of what MSFT is planning for the Internet will have on this potentially greatest and free-est of all global communications media, well that should be obvious. Unfortunately, things sometimes don't become "obvious" until they're already a done deal, and then people say, "How'd we let this happen?"