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Technology Stocks : 3Com Corporation (COMS) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: miklosh who wrote (23016)	10/20/1998 11:51:00 PM
From: joe	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 45548

OT miklosh, RE: SGI I can only tell you about SGI mainly from a user stand point. I've been using their workstations for over 5 years. Right now I use an Octane which is a fair machine. Our Branch uses SGIs at all levels. We have a completely UNIX environment. When some of the people found out that SGI was offering NT, it was nothing but snickering. UNIX to most UNIX people is a religion. Regardless of that, personally I don't think NT will make it on SGI. I think they've already decided not to make the MIPS chip - correct? So, I'm not sure what chip there going to use. There objective, from what I understand is to carve out a niche for high-end graphics machines, like the ones that made the move with the Dinos. - Jurasic Park. Anyways, at one time they were on top of the hill. That was when Bill Clinton highlighted them as Hi-Tech Company of the year....remember he visited them? It's been downhill since. One of their big mistakes was buying CRAY after it went bankrupt. I guess SGI knew it's desktop days were over, so it wanted some expertise on the super high-end level to carve out a niche. I don't think this plan worked very well and the CRAY is a curse for anybody who touches it. Basically, it's desktop days are over. The smart move, IMO, is INTC teaming with HP to make their 64-bit CPU so it runs both NT and UNIX and I'm assuming will be designed so that performance is not hindered for either OS. NT on SGI, I would think would be very slow. I can't see it happening. Of course, in my shop, the UNIX GODS will have to bow down to change. If it was up to me, I'd wait for the INTC 64-bit chips and get those machines...but I would be excommunicated from ever working here again. UNLESS, SGI will make desktops using INTC chips? But then they'll be competing against DELL and CPQ - whew!! So, you would be investing in SGI as a niche company is what it turns out. Very difficult. I would think COMS is holiday compared to SGI. Of course, you may know a lot more about the company and its plans, but I would be carefull. Desktops and NT (unless it's on an INTC chip) just won't work. Niche super graphics company....maybe, seems more like a venture capital type investment. Your question is interesting because there are probably a whole lot of SGI shops that rely a lot on only SGI machines. Soon they will all get whacked on the head big time. I can't wait. I like UNIX and computers, but I don't worship them. Anything that gets the job done easier is fine with me. Lots more I could say, but....LINUX is the new thing on the block to maybe put a dent into MSFT NT. VERY INTERESTING DEVELOPMENT. joe