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

To: rudedog who wrote (11656)	10/22/1998 3:04:00 PM
From: ToySoldier	Respond to of 74651

I dont think that MSFT really thinks Linux or any other OS is a serious threat to their desktop monopoly. If price-point were a driving factor then Linux would have taken over the desktop overnight since their price-point is $0 (more if you want actual formal support). MSFT could raise the licensing price of Win98 by $30 and it would have very little effect on the marketshare against its competitors. Why, because like it or not, OSes like Linux do not have access to the vast software libraries of Win9X that Win9X OSes have. No matter how much I LOVE the benefits of Linux and no matter how cheap Linux is to me, I have no desire to replace Win95 with Linux because without the application software (eg. WordPerfect, Notes, P.Comm, etc.) to run on Linux, its completely useless to me. So Rude I will disagree with you on the the your following comment... "The problem with SW is that there is a natural floor - even if MSFT got 100% of the desktop business, if they started to raise prices even a little, someone else would come in and undercut them (can you say Linux) and they would have to drop back to maintain market share." MSFT has a unique monopoly when it comes to Windows/Win9X. It is different because unlike a monoploy like what Hayes (God rest their soul) had with its modem monopoly, MSFT has a monopoly on a product that too many other products (i.e. hardware and software) is uniquely dependant on. Therefor, its competitors cannot build a better mousetrap since the mice are conditioned to make tracks only to MSFT's mousetrap. Since the mice only go to one mousetrap regardless of the great features of the new mousetrap - the price of this new mousetrap means quat to me the consumer since I wont be able to catch any mice with it! Therefor, I'm willing to deal with the inferior mousetrap because I would rather catch some mice then none at all. (LOL - I love analogies) Toy