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Technology Stocks : PSFT - Fiscal 1998 - Discussion for the next year -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (4460)	1/29/1999 7:48:00 PM
From: Chuzzlewit	Respond to of 4509

Michelle, Bob Zagorin originally posted this URL, but I'll repost it in case you missed it. We could easily be looking at smoke and mirrors in the making. nytimes.com TTFN, CTC

To: Lizzie Tudor who wrote (4460)	1/29/1999 10:30:00 PM
From: Melissa McAuliffe	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 4509

Michelle...I don't know why mmtm is suddenly becoming so confusing to everyone. When PSFT announced MMTM originally a whole discussion occurred about it. I ever remember someone(maybe an analyst)saying that they'd now have to look at both MMTM and PSFT to get a real handle on PSFT's performance. Or something like that. This was an accounting thing which seems at the point it was done to have been perfectly legal and aboveboard and a way for PSFT to use excess cash to invest in the future. I even think that some people were upset (maybe on yahoo vs.here)that PSFT didn't use the cash for a share buyback program. I don't see that PSFT ever tried to mislead investors about the purpose of MMTM and the close relationship it will have with PSFT. A week or so ago I tried to make the point that to really understand PSFT's market potential it was important to look at MMTM too. I think the 10Q or whatever that MMTM document is called is very clear on many points and I think everyone that hasn't should read it. This is simply a way to reduce time to market for new products and technology. At least that's how it appears to me. Is it really all that different than when SAP formed that company with INTC to develop web software of whatever it was? Speaking of SAP...does anyone know how much SAP's deferred revenues are? I heard they are $70M. If this is true then I strongly suspect that SAP may run into some of the same accounting issues that BAAN did when they started reporting under GAAP. For a software company of SAP's size, this number is way too low. If I remember correctly, one of the big issues w/BAAN was the way they were accounting for software licenses...taking too much into revenue when it really wasn't bookable. When will SAP start reporting under U.S. rules? Melissa