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

To: Alan Buckley who wrote (19821)	4/6/1999 4:29:00 PM
From: t2	Respond to of 74651

Alan, I agree with your post in general. However, there is a point to be made for a settlement as it gets the trial cloud out of the way. I think MSFT will benefit in public opinion if they settle. IMHO, their success had a lot to do with the public (in particular corporate America) falling in love with this company's products (I know the computer geeks hated MSFT). THis in turn made MSFT as the choice for consumers who learned to how the use the software at the "office". THey got their training in using MSFT software at work and will continue to use at home. However, if public opinion turns against MSFT, they will still win in corporate America but will lose in consumer business. That is why they may want to settle. Maybe that is why they wanted a consumer division. In addition, the deals would involve only Windows98 anyways---it would not affect NT or its successor Windows2000 as those don't have near monopoly positions. In fact it is believed that it is very competitive market with Linux, Novell etc. IMO, it is not that competitive but the important thing is that it appears to be competitive as far as MSFT is concerned.

To: Alan Buckley who wrote (19821)	4/6/1999 4:47:00 PM
From: RTev	Respond to of 74651

Although I don't think Microsoft will settle, I don't see the company's intransigence as good for Microsoft either in the long run or the short run. They seem to be following a strategy that was unhealthy for IBM. Sure, the market will change. It will change even faster if Microsoft insists on fighting an ultimately unwinnable battle. It will change to Microsoft's detriment. Microsoft will have to sit back and watch, confident that they may be losing in the market, but winning in the courtroom. As they drag out the case, more decisions will have to be vetted by lawyers. Want to buy that cool web site over there? Great, but let's run it by the lawyers. Will the FTC approve? Will this pique the interest of DOJ? (Of course, such questions are always asked by all businesses, but they become more troublesome and more difficult to answer while a company is under antitrust scrutiny.) Want to add this nifty new feature to Windows? Hmm. Sorry. The lawyers say that would cause trouble with the lawsuit. Because of this suit, Microsoft is already limited in its ability to enforce the Windows desktop monopoly. The very thing they are fighting to maintain seems to be slipping away from them. As long as they stay in court, they'll face restrictions. That gives companies like Dell far more freedom than they would have had before the trial to make decisions that are ultimately harmful to Microsoft.