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

To: Teflon who wrote (22271)	5/6/1999 1:56:00 PM
From: Sir Francis Drake	Respond to of 74651

Teflon - exactly my feeling. Already there is noise in Washington about the AT&T/MSFT hookup. It only makes sense that AT&T will play up the non-exclusive angle... though they "protest too much" :) I think this is a fabulous deal. If you recall, there have been MSFT/AT&T contacts for quite awhile (f.ex. the MSN situation), so there is some track record for talks between Armstrong and Gates. You can be sure neither MSFT nor AT&T will tip their hand at this stage, but you can be equally sure that the MSFT shareholders will come out ahead. Morgan PS Great trading MSFT today - back in at 79 1/16, will continue trading!

To: Teflon who wrote (22271)	5/6/1999 2:36:00 PM
From: RTev	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

My gut feel is that AT&T is playing up the "non-exclusive" aspects of this deal to set the stage for its regulatory battle. I'm sure there's more to it, but the non-exclusivity is so fundamental to Armstrong's way of doing business that I suspect it is significant to the deal. But you're right, if there isn't much more to the deal than just "CE on some boxes", then Armstrong just pulled off a fast one. Other stories mention the digital TV trials. I've mentioned those a few times before. In the mid 90's -- back when Microsoft discounted the internet and when TCI's mad Dr. Malone was enraptured of a 500 channel future -- Microsoft was far along in trials of a complex interactive TV system. It used Microsoft software both on the front- and back-end. There were several stories on the system, including a feature in Wired. Some Microsoft employees who lived in apartments near the campus even got to become trial subscribers. All of that got put on the back burner when the web exploded in Microsoft's corporate face, but the development continued -- just more quietly than before. This deal will move that department out to the forefront once again. I would still expect to hear about things like wireless deals in the days to come. And then there's the issue of RoadRunner. I haven't seen it mentioned yet. We might not hear anything until the considerable opposition to this whole deal rounds up the forces, but we will hear about it, and I suspect that Microsoft's name will be prominent in the talk.