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To: Bill Harmond who wrote (47998)	3/29/1999 8:23:00 PM
From: Dave Mansfield	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

Classified advertising is a fad, too? And what's the market caps of the companies in that business? $30B+?

To: Bill Harmond who wrote (47998)	3/29/1999 8:46:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 164684

>>Most of the fad "stuff" will never be profitable. Yes the stock prices show otherwise but it is a fad. Classified advertising is a fad, too? Auctions and classified are not the same. I have to teach you every thing:-)))

To: Bill Harmond who wrote (47998)	3/29/1999 10:30:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 164684

FULL TEXT-Microsoft to realign into business units Software giant Microsoft Corp <MSFT.O> announced on Monday that it would realign the company into business divisions designed to meet the requirements of its core customers. The long-expected reorganization was announced publicly by Microsoft chairman and chief executive Bill Gates and president Steve Ballmer after speaking with employees earlier Monday morning. A full text of the press release follows. Gates and Ballmer Outline Blueprint to Reinvent Microsoft Executives Announce Company Realignment to Better Focus on Customers, Refresh Company Vision and Lay the Foundation for Meeting the Challenges of the Future REDMOND, Wash., March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT) President Steve Ballmer and Chairman and CEO Bill Gates today outlined a fundamental realignment of the company designed to meet the needs of its customers well into the next decade. The two executives outlined a shift in its organizational structure to establish business divisions based on the requirements of core customers. The business division leaders will think and act in parallel, each empowered with driving product planning and marketing strategies for their respective customers. The customer-focused parallelism represents a move away from the alignment by products and technologies that had served the company since its inception. "This new structure is part of the reinvention of Microsoft," said Ballmer. "Software is going to play a far broader role in our lives than we can even imagine today. When we took stock of our ability to meet these future opportunities, it became clear that we were organized to meet today's needs but not those of the next decade. We realized that we needed to renew Microsoft by focusing on three core issues: First, we needed to update and refresh our vision. Second, we needed to get closer to our customers' needs and requirements. Third, we needed to empower customer-focused groups to work more autonomously and in parallel," added Ballmer. "Our original vision of 'a computer on every desk and in every home' is still extremely relevant," said Gates. "Looking to the future, our vision is much more expansive. We see a world where people can use any computing device to do whatever they want to do anytime, anywhere. The PC will continue to have a central role in this future, but it will be joined by an incredibly rich variety of digital devices accessing the power of the Internet. We want to give people the power, connectivity and ability to choose how they want to use computing in their lives," Gates added. Alignment for Greater Customer Focus, Execution of Priorities Ballmer and Gates stressed that refreshing the Microsoft vision and driving an organizational structure focused on customer needs would help the company execute against its key priorities: * Making the Microsoft(R) Windows(R) 2000 operating system more scalable, reliable and available, and continuing to deliver solutions that simplify management and reduce total cost of ownership for this very important IT platform * Improving information flow for the knowledge worker, including the mobile worker, by providing end-to-end knowledge management solutions * Building an architecture that lets developers target a broad range of devices and simplify development of second-generation Web applications * Bringing online consumers and businesses together by delivering the best online experience for consumers, and by delivering an integrated platform of products and services that will help businesses of all sizes utilize the Internet as the ultimate marketplace * Developing a new generation of consumer-friendly PCs that are simple, stable and so easy to use they will meet the needs of anyone in the family * Ensuring power and connectivity for the explosion of new devices emerging to complement the PC The new structure more closely maps to Micr...