Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

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

To: t2 who wrote (23684)	6/6/1999 3:29:00 AM
From: blankmind	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

- Could some of the long termers compare the so-called hype surrounding Office 2000 to that of MSFT's other product launches? - as I recall, for Win 95, I think MSFT took out massive advertising worldwide - and this time, it seems very subdued - yet the enhanced internet features should make this an extremely well-received product - as I think I read some astronomical advanced orders from their beta users thanks.

To: t2 who wrote (23684)	6/6/1999 5:23:00 PM
From: Sir Francis Drake	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 74651

OK, the big Linux vs MSFT fight will now get REAL. You'll be able to lay bets with real money for the first time... nytimes.com <<DURHAM, N.C. (AP) -- Red Hat Inc., which won investments by major information technology companies seeking to build a software challenger to Microsoft, says it will go public with a $96.6 million stock offering. The company, which found a way to take software available free worldwide and sell packaged versions backed with technical support, said Friday it has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of its common Stock. Red Hat is a leading vendor of Linux, a software code developed by Linus Torvalds in the early 1990s when he was a student in Finland. Linux is best known for being an operating system that rarely crashes. The company and the code began gaining notice last fall with major technology companies such as Intel, IBM, Netscape, and Oracle buying a stake in Red Hat. But Linux still has a ways to go before it is considered a rival of Microsoft. Windows runs about 85 percent of the world's personal computers. Goldman, Sachs & Co. will act as lead underwriter of Red Hat's IPO. Other underwriters include Thomas Weisel Partners and ETrade Securities Inc. The number of shares to be sold was not disclosed. Red Hat revealed in the filing that up to this point virtually all of its income has come from selling boxes of Red Hat Linux software. The company is looking at its Web site and income from services, like custom development and training, as sources of future revenue. Red Hat is close to profitability, the company said it its SEC filing. Revenues have been doubling annually and are listed as $10.7 million for 1999. Its net loss for the fiscal year, which ended Feb. 28, was $130,000. Red Hat spends about 20 percent of its revenue on research and development. Since March 1998, Red Hat's staff has grown from 36 to 130 employees. Stacy Quandt, an analyst with Giga Information Group in Santa Clara, Calif., said Red Hat will be closely watched after making the first Linux-related IPO. ''This is the first of many,'' she said. LinuxCare and VA Linux Systems, both based in Northern California, also are IPO candidates. The single biggest chunk of the company is owned by board member Frank Batten Jr. of Norfolk, Va. Batten, chairman of the media company Landmark Communications, owns 25 percent of Red Hat. Landmark owns The Weather Channel and major regional newspapers, including the News & Record of Greensboro, the Virginian-Pilot of Norfolk and the Roanoke (Va.) Times. Of all of the technology companies -- like IBM, Netscape, Oracle and SAP -- that have made highly publicized investments in Red Hat, only Intel was identified as a significant owner of the company, with a 5 percent stake.>>