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Technology Stocks : MindSpring Enterprises (MSPG) Another ISP. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: brk who wrote (1019)	5/21/1999 9:29:00 AM
From: Shafik Habal	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1434

MindSpring Under Heavy Accumulation (rumor source: streetq.com StreetQ has learned that shares of MindSpring Enterprises (MSPG) may be under heavy accumulation by computer manufacturers Dell (DELL) and Gateway (GTW). Recently, Dell Computer announced its intention to launch Dell.com, an innovative free-PC initiative in which the cost of the PC would be defrayed by the cost of an Internet access subscription. Gateway (GTW), which recently dropped its Gateway.net service, is said to be considering a similar move. It is not unlikely that Dell and Gateway are both considering partnering or perhaps acquiring MindSpring to use the ISP as launch pads for their free-PC programs. MindSpring, often considered the second or third largest ISP in the US after America Online, closed at $81 7/16 on Thursday. Dell lost 3 % of its market capitalization on Thursday to close at $38 1/4 while shares of Gateway dropped nearly 6% to end the day at $61 1/4.

To: brk who wrote (1019)	5/23/1999 7:04:00 PM
From: Mr Bones	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1434

Very interesting indeed. What I get out of it is this -- you have everything from soup to nuts out there and nobody knows how easy it will be to wire all this stuff up. I wonder if the fact that MSPG owns 43% of its POPs gives it an advantage over ELNK for DSL rollout. My speculation is based on the author's statement that "Earthlink doesn't own a point-of-presence (POP) or similar network piece that it can connect to a LEC's asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) switch and back to its own network. Moreover, the ATM-over-ADSL architecture carriers are implementing is impractical for a network outsourcer." I understand what's being said, but just barely, certainly not enough to extrapolate from it. I also wonder if ELNK's partnership w/Sprint will limit ELNK's flexibility in finding other DSL partners. Thanks Mr Bones