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

To: Teflon who wrote (18506)	3/22/1999 3:27:00 PM
From: RTev	Respond to of 74651

Don't think for a minute that Mr. Gates wouldn't love to own several media businesses. Gates might want to since he's one of the investors in Dreamworks, but I don't think there's a lot of interest at Microsoft. Although the company has a partnership with Dreamworks for software development, it did not invest in the studio. MSFT sticks pretty closely to its core strength. I think their experience with content creation at RedWest (which is where the internet and CD-ROM groups are) has taught them how difficult it is to get into a new area with issues that are significantly different than those they've learned (eventually) to handle in software development. And would it really help Microsoft to become too closely tied to one cable company, for instance? As it stands, Microsoft still has a good chance to provide major tools in the broadband spectrum. Since its divestiture of Lucent, AT&T -- which is now one of the biggest cable providers -- is no longer tied to the software and equipment of one supplier. If Microsoft and NT can give them a better solution for some part of their network, they might just choose it (although they'd be pulled in that direction kicking all the way). They'd be far less likely to buy into it, however, if Microsoft is perceived as a competitor. Getting tied in too closely to media companies now would be comparable to getting into the hardware business in the 80s. Microsoft wisely avoided that. Let's hope they avoid the 2k equivalent. These things have been issues at Microsoft for years. Over the years, several key executives have left the company after losing out on one side or the other in the battle over content. I doubt it's over, but I also doubt that we'll see Microsoft competing directly with Disney any time soon.