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

To: RTev who wrote (23328)	5/27/1999 10:06:00 AM
From: Teflon	Respond to of 74651

RTev, how are you. What do you think of this article in the Washington Post? Gains May Help Microsoft's Case By Rajiv Chandrasekaran Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, May 27, 1999; Page E01 The Linux operating system was a speck on the horizon. The marriage of America Online Inc. and Netscape Communications Corp. hadn't happened. And hand-held computers that connected to the Internet were still on the drawing board. A lot has happened in the technology industry since the Justice Department and 19 states filed a massive antitrust suit against Microsoft Corp. a year ago. As a debate mounts about whether the new environment means stiff new competition for Microsoft, some federal lawyers and outside legal experts believe it could complicate any efforts to get aggressive sanctions against the company if the government wins. The government has been considering asking the judge hearing the case to order "structural" changes at Microsoft, such as a corporate breakup or a forced sharing of the secret computer code that comprises the firm's Windows operating system software. Government lawyers argue that the changes in the technology world have not as yet had a significant impact on Microsoft's position in the market. Still, according to sources close to the case, there is a growing feeling among some antitrust enforcers that the developments make it less likely that the judge hearing the case, and those who would hear any appeals, would be willing to accept aggressive sanctions. "The message in this for the court is to be cautious," said Ernest Gellhorn, a law professor at George Mason University. "It will discourage the court from looking at a structural solution." As a result, *some government officials are more seriously discussing remedies that would merely require Microsoft to make changes in its business behavior*, with the goal of limiting the company's ability to squelch new technologies that might compete with Windows Since the case was filed last May: Internet-connected devices that aren't PCs, such as "screen phones," television set-top boxes and hand-held organizers, have become more common and now are seen by some industry observers as a potential long-term threat to Windows. Netscape was acquired for $10 billion by America Online. Netscape's Netcenter Web "portal" site gives AOL a big jump in its effort to offer common software services, such as e-mail and electronic calendars, over the Internet. Analysts have predicted that such services, used through hand-held wireless devices, could reduce people's dependence on Windows-based PCs. The Linux operating system has mushroomed from obscurity. Some analysts now view it as a legitimate challenger to Windows in the long term. In the last six months, several large computer makers, including Compaq Computer Corp., Dell Computer Corp. and IBM Corp., have announced plans to offer Linux-equipped machines. But Linux, like the other developments, has not yet become a mass-market phenomenon, and there is little agreement among technology experts as to when -- and if -- such products will become full-fledged rivals to Windows. With restraints on Microsoft's behavior, however, some economists believe that one or more of these technologies would have the chance of maturing into a viable threat." Teflon