Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jan Crawley who wrote (43578)	3/2/1999 11:09:00 PM
From: GST	Respond to of 164684

Tuesday March 2, 10:00 pm Eastern Time Microsoft to unveil Internet commerce strategy By Martin Wolk SEATTLE, March 2 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) plans to shed its image as a ''no-show'' competitor in the explosively growing electronic commerce market this week, unveiling a strategy to help companies do business over the Internet. At a media briefing in San Francisco Thursday, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates and President Steve Ballmer will roll out a new set of software and services based on its msn.com Internet portal site and the forthcoming Windows 2000 system, industry analysts say. The company is expected to announce the details of an upgraded and renamed version of its server software for electronic commerce to be released with Windows 2000, the long-delayed upgrade to the high-end Windows NT operating system due out this year. And Microsoft will take special aim at small businesses with its MSN Marketplace, a set of tools and services that allow companies to set up Internet ''storefronts'' with transaction capability using simple browser-based tools, according to analysts who have been briefed on the plan. ''It's kind of the Holy Grail right now of electronic commerce,'' said Jack Staff, chief economist of Zona Research. ''The major driving force in the economy is small business and thus far nobody has really cornered that market with e-commerce.'' The appearance of Microsoft's top two executives at the briefing appears intended to change the perception that the computer software group has lagged in efforts to grab a piece of the enormous electronic commerce opportunity. By some estimates more than $400 billion in business will be conducted over the Internet by 2002, including consumer sales and business-to-business transactions. Microsoft quietly has built a strong business supplying back-end software for Internet commerce based on Windows NT, but has been overshadowed by rival International Business Machines Corp. While Microsoft has been bogged down by a headline-grabbing antitrust trial, IBM has used savvy marketing and its strong relationships with big business to establish a reputation as the leader in ''e-business.'' ''Microsoft has for all intents and purposes been a no-show, at least in the war of words,'' said Dwight Davis, an analyst with Summit Strategies. At the briefing, Microsoft is expected to disclose the names of large businesses handling electronic commerce over Windows NT systems rather than the mainframe and minicomputer options promoted by IBM. ''Microsoft is a tough competitor no matter what segment they're playing in and they bring a lot of resources to any situation,'' said Karl Salnoske, general manager of electronic commerce for IBM. ''We don't underestimate Microsoft.'' For its MSN Marketplace, Microsoft will get a running start from its $265 million acquisition last year of Link Exchange, which offers ad placement, transaction capability and other features to a network of some one million businesses. But Microsoft faces intense competition from major portal site operators, including Yahoo Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO - news), Excite Inc. (Nasdaq:XCIT - news), Lycos Inc. (Nasdaq:LCOS - news) and Netscape Communications Corp. (Nasdaq:NSCP - news). ''The small business area is going to get very competitive because people do understand that the opportunity is there,'' said John Keister, president of Go2net Inc., which is adding 20,000 businesses a month to its HyperMart community. ''There is a ton of growth still left in this category.'' As a result Microsoft will offer services that undermine its core Windows franchise by supporting businesses without requiring them to invest in the platform, said Vernon Keenan of Keenan Vision, who estimated the number of online merchants would rise to 400,000 by 2003 from about 17,000 currently. ''This is the typical eat-your-own-young approach,'' he said. ''What they're hoping to do is get people hooked into the services business with MSN Marketplace in the hopes that they will graduate to Windows 2000.''

To: Jan Crawley who wrote (43578)	3/2/1999 11:11:00 PM
From: GST	Respond to of 164684

Tuesday March 2, 10:17 pm Eastern Time No new U.S. plan for China WTO entry-Barshefsky BEIJING, March 3 (Reuters) - U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky said on Wednesday she had brought no new proposal to talks in Beijing on China's entry into the World Trade Organisation. ''I'm not here to bring proposals. I'm here to listen to what the Chinese have to say,'' she told reporters on her way to her first meetings with Chinese officials. U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told a Beijing news conference on Tuesday that Barshefsky was bringing a new proposal on China's 13-year bid to get into the WTO and that Washington hoped for Chinese flexibility on the issue. Barshefsky, who arrived in Beijing on Tuesday night, was scheduled to have two days of meetings before returning to Washington on Friday, a U.S. official said. She was scheduled to meet with Foreign Trade Minister Shi Guangsheng later on Wednesday.

To: Jan Crawley who wrote (43578)	3/2/1999 11:21:00 PM
From: GST	Respond to of 164684

I will be thinking of you and your luncheon appointment when I am in Indonesia in June ...... Canberra can lead recovery, says Goh By GREG SHERIDAN Foreign editor 3mar99 SINGAPORE Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong last night painted a gloomy picture of the ongoing Asian economic crisis and called for Australia to play a leadership role in its resolution. Mr Goh concentrated on the continuing political uncertainties in Indonesia, telling the Asia Society in Sydney: "Political change has made it more difficult to deal with the economic crisis in Indonesia." He also said, contradicting lower figures quoted by Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer this week, that half the Indonesian population was living at or below the poverty line. "Almost 40 million Indonesians are unemployed and the number is growing," he said. "Law and order is breaking down." Mr Goh was also gloomy in his assessment of the Japanese economy: "Japanese banks and companies are highly exposed in South East Asia." Mr Goh said that China was "under great pressure, trying to maintain internal stability with growth slowing and daunting structural problems". But he praised Beijing for keeping its currency stable. Mr Goh seemed to raise the spectre of a global depression, quoting US economist Paul Krugman to the effect that there is "a definite whiff of the 1930s in the air". In a spirit of remarkable candour, he freely admitted that the Asian crisis had badly dented the reputation of the Association of South East Asian Nations and "taken the gloss off its image". However, he argued that the challenges of today were not as severe for ASEAN as those of the 1960s and that ASEAN would survive. He called on Australia to take the lead in convincing the US and Europe of the need for "finesse, tolerance for diversity and urgency of action." He strongly supported reform of the international financial architecture saying that Singapore joined with Australia in supporting "the fledgling G22 process". This places Singapore, like Australia, at odds with the leading nations of the European Union, which have insisted on concentrating power over financial system reform in the Group of Seven leading industrial economies, the G7. He warned against triumphalism: "Behind European and American hesitations lies one smug but unspoken assumption: that the recent failure of many brands of Asian capitalism has proved that there are no alternatives to Western models of capitalism anywhere in the world. Yet, ideologically driven approaches to the problems that failed to appreciate the nuances and diversities of Asia will be counter productive." Mr Goh's speech will be warmly appreciated by the Howard Government as it recognises Australia's strong contribution in the Asian crisis and our potential for a leadership role in the future. It also demonstrates one important consequence of the crisis: driving relatively successful members of the region, such as Singapore and Australia, closer to together in co-operation.