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

To: RTev who wrote (19072)	3/28/1999 1:25:00 PM
From: Lizzie Tudor	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

Oh wow.... if that is really what the states are going to want I can't see much coming from these talks. This is a little more radical than I expected... yikes! (as a consumer I don't like it either)

To: RTev who wrote (19072)	3/28/1999 1:57:00 PM
From: t2	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74651

Just like MSFT, the states are offering their minimal counter offer. We might see a middle ground somewhere---otherwise MSFT is much better off dragging it through the courts where they will win either in a verdict or in redemies that would be less insane. MSFT is going to win this battle and the war; no doubt about it!

To: RTev who wrote (19072)	3/29/1999 3:01:00 AM
From: Alan Buckley	Respond to of 74651

This auction BS is absolutely ridiculous. So, the state AGs "solution" is to force MSFT to fragment it's OS in the same way it's competitor (Unix) has. This would slow development of Windows software, raise the cost of said development, and create confusion and incompatibility for end users. Boy, that sounds like a great win for consumers...NOT! Consider the silly precedent it would be for intellectual property rights. What happens when the EU makes a similar ruling forcing MSFT to sell the Windows source to any European competitor that wants it? There's no way this nonsense gets through the higher courts.

To: RTev who wrote (19072)	3/29/1999 3:22:00 AM
From: Lin	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 74651

"After the Windows auction, the intellectual property rights would be transferred to possibly two or three companies. Microsoft would be permitted to market and further develop its own version of Windows..." This does not sound too bad a deal to me. Microsoft get billions from the auction and get these DOJ & AGs off the back. In the meantime, whoever pay the big money get the buggy source code that is too costly to maintain / develop and no end user trust enough to buy. The intellectual property is in people, not in the dead computer code. Better yet, Microsoft can keep on develop their own version of Windows OS that make the auctioned version obsolete right away. If any of you ever took over someone else's computer code, you know what I mean, it is really a pain in the butt.