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Technology Stocks : Novell (NOVL) dirt cheap, good buy? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Paul Fiondella who wrote (26588)	4/9/1999 10:33:00 AM
From: PJ Strifas	Respond to of 42771

Here's some more news on MSFT's OS problems: Win98 SE: How not to market a product Microsoft Corp. has done an amazingly horrible job of explaining its Windows 98 upgrade plans. It's hard to imagine the company could have made its strategy any more confusing. And lying about its intentions, thinking the truth wouldn't emerge from loose-lipped testers under NDA, hasn't helped matters any. But give Redmond credit where it's due. Microsoft is NOT planning to charge existing Windows 98 customers $89 for Windows 98 Second Edition, a minor upgrade. The only people who will pay $89 are those who have not already upgraded to Windows 98. Those who have upgraded and want bug fixes, plus some minor new features, like Internet Connection Sharing, DirectX 6.2, Internet 5.0 and new drivers, will be able to buy a CD version for some reduced rate (a figure Microsoft won't divulge, but we hear is about $20). Fairly simple so far, right? Here's where Microsoft really muddied the waters. There will be some other version of Windows 98 Second Edition, tentatively called StepUp, which also will be an upgrade for existing Windows 98 customers. How this differs from the aforementioned CD version, in terms of price or features, is unclear. And Microsoft isn't shedding any light on this: it's just starting to sign up beta testers for StepUp and is publicly refusing to admit this version is in the works. (I have to add an aside here. "No comment" is preferable "not true." It's not just the existence of StepUp that Microsoft denied. The company also told us earlier this year there were no plans for a Windows 9X-kernel-based update to Windows 98 due in the year 2000. President Steve Ballmer yesterday announced such a product, although stopped short of calling it the code-name we heard -- Windows 2000 Personal Edition. Back to more immediate OS matters. There is also going to be a free, downloadable Service Pack 1 for Windows 98. This service pack will be the first of the Microsoft operating service packs which will include bug fixes only, instead of fixes plus new features. This is a good thing. How many times have customers and resellers complained that Microsoft service packs break more than they fix? If Microsoft refrains from putting new and only marginally tested technologies into service packs, the company will be doing everyone a favor. Whether Microsoft's intentions are noble or not, by being overly cryptic about its Windows 98 Second Edition marketing plans, the company has stirred up customers with little cause. At the same time, Microsoft has lost an opportunity to explain its rationales for some good policy decisions it's making around service pack updates. Remember OSR2? This upgrade for Windows 95 was available via OEMs preloaded on new hardware only. Windows 95 end-user customers who wanted all the fixes and features Microsoft introduced over a three-year period were only able to obtain these by buying a new machine or trying to download each individual component over the Web. The forthcoming Windows 98 Second Edition CD upgrade and/or StepUp could alleviate this kind of scenario. Microsoft's new pricing and upgrade policies -- should it ever be able to explain them in a coherent way -- could end up helping users more than hurting them. Do you agree? If not, why not? Talk back below and let me know. This article is from ZDNN (http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/). Visit this page on the Web at: zdnet.com Peter Strifas

To: Paul Fiondella who wrote (26588)	4/9/1999 11:05:00 AM
From: Spartex	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 42771

INKT has just about doubled in price since NOVL BrainShare! cbs.marketwatch.com nktomi rolls up more partners By Bambi Francisco, CBS MarketWatch Last Update: 8:47 AM ET Apr 7, 1999 Internet Daily Net headlines NEW YORK (CBS.MW) -- Inktomi is beefing up its stable of portal and merchant partnerships for its fledging shopping engine. Inktomi (INKT), the developer of Internet software, Wednesday said it signed up 5 new portal partners to enable users to shop and compare prices over the Web. The new recruits include: FreeServers, Free Yellow.Com, Global DataTel, NetGift Registry and Time Inc. New Media. See release. Ahead of the news, shares of Inktomi shot up 15 3/4, or 17 percent, to an all-time high of 106 1/4 on Tuesday. Its stock market value now stands at $5.1 billion. The stock has soared nearly 1100 percent since Goldman Sachs took the company public last June. While the shopping engine application isn't expected to impact revenues, much less earnings, for some time, Inktomi does project the new technology will take off. In one to two years, the shopping engine is expected to displace Inktomi's main caching and search engine products as the primary revenue generator, the company has said. The San Mateo, Calif. company is quickly ramping up its relationships. Just three weeks ago, Inktomi had 15 portal partnerships. Inktomi is attracting more merchants as well. The company now has 350 online retailers offering over 2 million products through the portal arrangements. Since the new technology is still in preview mode, it's difficult to gauge just how many consumers are using the comparable shopping service, let alone making purchases because of it. When they do buy, Inktomi expects to earn a sales commission from its merchants between 5 to 20 percent of the purchase price. The fee will be divided in half and shared with the portal driving the traffic to the cyber stores. Inktomi plans to introduce a new service in the second half of this year that allows merchants to feature products that pop up when consumers ask for recommendations. The move is clearly aimed at preventing independent retailers, such as Amazon.com, from building their own in-house shopping search engine. Inktomi is expected to announce third-quarter 1999 results after the close of trading on April 15. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx OK, now Novell. Get Digital Me out the door, along with NDS. AOL and INKT, among others, are trying to grab the merchants. We need to step in there too, as a secure, digital persona, used to shop, carry on business (eCommerce), I-Chain Me, and manage networks with NDS. I see the internet world slipping away..... GO!!!!!!!