Surfing Silicon Valley: 'Win' some, lose some

By CNN San Francisco Bureau Chief Greg Lefevre

e-mail: glefevre@CNN.com

May 21, 1998
Web posted at: 9:53 AM EDT (0953 GMT)

Rant

My pager won't work.

Rave

My pager's been quiet all day!

Rumor du Jour

Engineers at Apple are having fun running Windows emulation software on the new G3 and coming up with speeds faster than Windows on the new Pentium II. Apple won't acknowledge it.

The Feds vs. Microsoft

Does your computer do what you want it to, when you want it to, as reliably as you want it to?

I didn't think so.

The industry has failed you.

Be that Mr. Gates' fault or that of his allies, competitors or the feds, it is we who pay the bills who are not being served.

Here's why Microsoft is good for the market:

Jim Forbes at Windows Magazine says some companies want to be bought by Microsoft.

Why? Money and market pride.

Forbes says, "There are companies that will go into business and say 'This is a technology that we think is important. It's not necessarily supported by Windows today. We think that (Microsoft is) interested in it. Let's position the product so that it gathers their attention, and then we sell it.'"

If the product catches Redmond's fancy, it almost surely will find a place in the Microsoft galaxy and entry to most of the world's computers. Is that bad? And the software's original owners may be richly rewarded.

While visiting the offices of Upside Magazine this week, we were interrupted by Microsoft's news conference in reply to the antitrust lawsuit filed by the Justice Department. The news conference was produced at Microsoft's studios, aired locally on Microsoft's cable channel. Gates said, "Today, we are shipping to computer manufacturers the next great innovation in software for the personal computer -- 'Windows 98.'"

How many times did you hear the word "innovation" in that news conference? How many reviewers have looked at 'Win98' and agree?

Surf on...

Special report:

• Target: Microsoft

Related stories:

• Surfing Silicon Valley: Take my software, please- May 15, 1998

Related sites:

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• Apple Computer
• Microsoft

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