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Technology Stocks : 3DFX -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Michael G. Potter who wrote (11272)	3/20/1999 6:28:00 PM
From: Michael G. Potter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16960

I was a little bored this afternoon and was surfing various 3d news sites. On 3dnews.net , I found a reference to a company called "Sparkle" that was going to be making V3 cards. A little web seaching and: sparkle.com.tw I don't know if this is just old info from when the chip was first announced, but I seem to remember 3dfx saying that they will be selling to some Taiwanese card makers. Michael

To: Michael G. Potter who wrote (11272)	3/20/1999 10:08:00 PM
From: Michael G. Potter	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 16960

I noticed that I was quoted on the Yahoo board today. Actually, it seems like many of us here are quoted and the quotes often seem to indicate that what is posted on SI is somehow "better" than the other posting boards. Today I was quoted by a "stoopidbobby" <gotta love that name>, and cactusman1 <who took a swipe at me when trying to refute the quote>. I've been meaning to post something like this for a while, so here goes: 1. I received a free membership on SI when all you had to do was send in a postcard with your name and address. All the paying for memberships (and the old method) do is elevate the discussion somewhat. SI is moderated and they do a decent job of kicking off real abusers. It has been around for quite a while and has a fair number of knowledable posters, but there's lots who are not knowledable as well. The Fool boards also have a fair number of good posters (I even appreciate Sh0rty, he brings up good points pretty often). 2. I do not post on Yahoo because my company's area in Yahoo is filled with current and past employees who complain about my company. I try and avoid any linkage to posting there so there will be no doubt that I'm not one of the negative posters. Because I often have access to information that the general public does not have (for my company), I can't even post positive comments. So I avoid the subject. 3. I've always posted under my real name, even in the days I was running a BBS on my Apple II GS in my bedroom. I like the accountability. 4. Speaking of accountability, I'm an accountant (Chartered Accountant - Canadian version of CPA, worked for KPMG when I graduated, still in a Finance role). I actually think that I'm a pretty good accountant. I also have strong training in process improvement and I have a key inventory and operations control position. I have better than average knowledge of PC hardware, but I don't think that I'm close to many others who post here and elsewhere. My best analysis is based on publically released numbers and I do have a decent amount of experience in retail sales and in general management. When my analysis strays from my core strengths, take it with a grain of salt. 5. Anything posted here is simply my opinion. I'm long the stock, so read that as being biased towards the company doing well. I picked the company because I thought they could leverage their technology and brand presence in the retail market and strongly enter the OEM market. As a much smaller company than ATi, I thought I'd get more return for my investment as 3dfx rapidly grew. I still think their chances are good (JoeC's last post sums up much of what I belive although technology is still important when you're not #1), so I'm still long. 6. Stoopidbobbie is wrong to use my post as any sort of "touchstone" or "proof" of his negative views. 7. Cactusman1 is wrong to say that the release was always supposed to be April - 3dfx said Q2, but there have been many indications that it would be earlier. These have ranged from dates on pre-order websites to indications from conference calls (the ELBO CC said "pushed back"). My only real concerns here are that early is better with competition being released (they were late on Banshee and it cost them) and why run these expensive ads during the Final Four if you do not have your product in the stores ready to be sold? 8. Although I admire 3dfx's exectution of their business plan (and I think they have good management), they have terrible investor relations. Of all the companies I have ever owned, they are the slowest to respond to phone calls and e-mails. All their public statements on the STB merger basically have been saying "proxy in March, close by early April <SEC willing>". Well, what is the status? 3dfx needs to fix their reponsiveness to investor questions. I've already written to them once on this. Investor relations is key for a public company. 3dfx is keen on marketing. Well, investor relations IS marketing. Since they rely on stock options for part of their compensation, by not investing here, they're risking losing senior management and engineers. Anyways, I also want to say that I appreciate the time that the other posters here give and the effort that many of them put out to do extra research. Plus I'm jealous that Pat has a V3 already <grin>. Michael