Dennis Byron (Research 2.0)

Microsoft's Last Big Beat: Internet Domination or Death

At Research 2.0, we agree with your conclusion that Microsoft understands the information technology market situation well and is acting agressively to take advantage. I even go further and believe that Microsoft is uniquely positioned--because of its combination of enterprise and consumer computing experience--to stay well ahead of Oracle, SAP, IBM and Google in the enterprise category. Apple is a real threat on the consumer side and Yahoo will get Microsoft where it needs to get to respond on the consumer side faster than building something from scratch.

I caution you on your underlying assumption about Linux being developed "at almost no cost" however. IBM, Intel, Novell, HP, Fujitsu, EMC, Oracle, Sun, Motorola, and all the other sponsors of the Linux Foundation (LF) as well as many that work on Linux without belonging to the Foundation have spent billions on maintaining and updating the Linux kernel both in cash and in-kind contributions to the development effort.

If "low-cost Linux" is at all key to your conclusion, be careful. In fact, I believe relatively soon, Microsoft will become--along with Google--one of the largest users of Linux, thanking the LF profusely as it makes that transition.

DoubleClick CEO: Online Ad Spending Too Inefficient

I don't get Sorrel's comparison, Paul. He's saying the "newspapers and magazines" (now Google in the online age) make all the money, not the ad agencies that "buy space" in the newspapers and magazines (JWT, O&G, WPP, and I'm not sure who the fourth is in his top four). That's the way it has always been.

A comparison I wrestle with (see my March 7 post on seekingalpha): “Is Google a media play or an information technology investment?” The continuing challenge is whether to compare Google to Viacom (VIA), Disney (DIS) and McGraw Hill (MHP) or to Oracle (ORCL), IBM (IBM) and Microsoft (MSFT). If someone can convince me Google is a media play (preferably Google management), I can scratch them off the list of information technology (IT) suppliers I follow. But Google, which began as an IT supplier, wants to keep the now maybe dated comparison with Microsoft, etc. because IT is a more dynamic (and better capitalized) industry.