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To: Brooks Jackson who wrote (7518)	9/14/1998 5:45:00 PM
From: micny	Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 8545

Of course only time will tell, but I believe that the Microsoft Citibank alliance has substantially increased the liklihood that MSFDC/Transpoint will never gain market acceptance, and thus, that it will doom Citi to loosing money forever because it now is more likely than before that they will not gain the scale necessary to be efficient. Remember, bankers are conservative by nature and that any banker "on the fence" about using a Microsoft/FDC product will now be much less inclined to do so. It would have been difficult before this alliance to present a cogent, compelling case for using Microsoft/FDC, and now it has been made much more difficult when such an argument must rationalize pouring money into the coffer of one of the banking industries fiercest compoetitors. If that isn't enough, the case would have to be made for selecting a system that wasn't architected to work integrally, has yet to be integrated, and won't be stress tested in a production environment for a long time. I think MSFDC has been badly hurt.

To: Brooks Jackson who wrote (7518)	9/14/1998 8:53:00 PM
From: Ron S	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 8545

The Citi deal with MSFT & FDC is likely a good hedge position for all sides in that transaction. It is important that Citi is a minority investor, not a joint-venturer so that TransPoint can claim distance and maybe even forbid transmission of checking account data to Citi (some potential customers may laugh at this, though). The old partners may get access to Citi's tried-and-true system and do not have to eternally delay until they iron out the kinks in their pilot. Citi retains flexibility to TRANSfer or fold its system into Transpoint at any POINT (maybe, hence the name) it feels they are making more progress than Citi alone and stop the bleeding from losing money on it. Also, the pay anyone feature may no longer be the old MSFDC problem. It will be interesting to watch the appointment of new leadership of TransPoint (from whence it comes) and any new marketing strategy to obscure the partners (which may be the best reason for the immediate name change).