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

To: Maverick who wrote (21818)	4/29/1999 11:48:00 AM
From: Andy Thomas	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

What do you folks think of MSFT's approach to streaming media? Did they step on some toes in Hollywood with their approach so far? When considering copyright laws, Is what's good for the goose also good for the gander? Bay was that million-dollar-signing-bonus developer they signed away from Borland a few years ago. He looks like an NFL LB or TE. This is unusual because in the industry a lot of the guys look like pillsbury doughboys or other assorted geeky types. I think MSFT will need to scramble to adapt to the new business models which will arise as the world becomes freer, breaking up into ever-smaller autonomous units, much to the chagrin of the statists, some of whom haunt those very MSFT halls. So is it communist to be against the current copyright laws and their application, or is the notion of royalties and such actually an historical anomaly? I'll go with the latter. As for the musicians, the ones collecting royalties live in a dream world. Before there was recorded music, musicians only got paid to play and compose. Now they get paid for doing nothing, after the fact of creation. This is ridiculous. The same goes for actors. We need to go back to a world where actors get paid to act, and musicians get paid to play, but there are no royalties. The same goes for software. Once again, the idea that the originator of a program or algorithm should be able to keep you by law from copying it magnetically, or indeed even reselling it... that needs to be reexamined. I believe that no one - not even the originator of magnetic or optical media - should have such iron grip control over such things. I have no problem with software developers putting anti-copyright code or whatever into their programs, or in developing a program in conjunction with specific hardware to thwart so-called "pirates." I have no problem with the proprietary. That is because I believe that in the future open source will rule and support and vertical apps will be the key, instead of the insular approach to software that we see with MSFT today. So unlike other critics of MSFT, I do not support the DOJ trial. MSFT should be free to do business as they please; so should everyone else. So while I do not support the actions of the DOJ, it is fun to see MSFT "hoisted by their own petard" in a way. My issue is with the copyright laws and their application. Anyone honestly interested in issues of freedom needs to consider these questions. Stock Tip: Check out ENRON... getting ready to deliver digital bandwidth for free through the existing power grid... from what I hear... could be bad for phone/cable ISPs. FWIW Andy