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microsoft continued Last month, we learned that Leonardo da nounced that it was embarking on a $100 DOS 6.0 operating system, eliminating the admitted that Money was an embarrassment inci's "Codex" notebook had joined Intuit million marketing campaign to boost aware- need for customers to purchase Stac's prod- to the whole company. and Stac Electronics as the leitest jewel in the ness of its name. "The Microsoft brand name uct. No longer. The deal announced between crown of Bill Gates. Gates, of course, is the represents 'access'—access to ideas, informa- Many people believed that Stac's victory Microsoft and Intuit calls for Microsoft to richest man in the United States: the founder, tion, fun, tools and even other people," said over Microsoft was proof that patents will pro- spend $1.5 billion to purchase Intuit's stock. Chairman, and CEO of Microsoft, the Seattle- Steve Ballmer, executive vice president of sales tect smaller companies from larger ones, even As part of the deal, Microsoft will sell off its based company that is running the world's and support at Microsoft. "As personal com- ones as large as Microsoft. But, a few months Money product to another firm. The official personal computer industry. puters appear in more and more places, we later, the two companies settled their differ- reason for jettisoning Money is to avoid the Leonardo's seventy-two page Codex want people to recognize how software, and ences with an agreement that called for patent risk of being nabbed by the anti-trust division notebook predicted the invention of the sub- specifically Microsoft software, is making their cross-licensing and for Microsoft to purchase of the Justice Department for anti-competi- marine and the steam engine, contained ad- computers come to life." 15% of Stac's stock for $83 million. Stac's data tive practices. The more likely reason is that vice on flood control, speculated that the Microsoft predicts that its new motto— compression patents, which worked so well Microsoft simply doesn't need Money any more. moon is illuminated by reflected sunlight, and "Where do you want to go today?"—will be against Microsoft, will now boost Microsoft's Many users of Quicken were heartbro- theorized why the sky is blue:. In many ways, seen by more than 95 percent of the adults in dominance in "'"• ^^—^-^^— the manuscript, written between 1506 and the United States within the coming year. 1510, anticipated the advances in science and the field and Microsoft's competitors must also technology that have been unfolding for the If You Can't Beat 'em, Buy 'em. prevent other * past five hundred years. Although Microsoft is clearly in the driver's companies be worried about what Microsoft Microsoft, likewise, ha:; spent much of seat today, things looked bad for the com- from compet- the last year pursuing a series of strategic part- pany earlier this year. In February, a jury found ing. will be doing in 1996 and 1997. Con- nerships and acquisitions that may shape the Microsoft guilty of violating a software patent The same world of computers, technology, and com- on disk compression and awarded $120 mil- thinking was trolling the operating system, the merce well into the next century. At the focal lion in damages to Stac Electronics, a much at work on Oc- point of Microsoft's dominance is the smaller company located in Carlsbad, CA. tober 13, network, and the network's infra- company's DOS and Windows, the "operat- Disk compression is a technique that al- when ing system" of more than 1.50 million desk- lows computers to store more information on Microsoft an- structure puts Microsoft in the top computers world wide; and Microsoft's their disks than would otherwise be possible, nounced that willingness to use its operating systems to le- and compression in general is one of the key it was purchas- driver's seat. verage its other products. In a world where technologies allowing computers to manipu- ing Intuit, the desktop computer is finding more and late images, sounds and video. Stac had been maker of ^~"~~-~"-""^^^~ ken by the news: Intuit owed no small part of more uses every day, Microsoft's influence at the forefront of the industry, early on de- Quicken, a wildly successful finance program its success to fierce customer loyalty, earned translates into a pervasive lever that is increas- veloping a program that allowed users to store used by millions of people to balance their with a friendly product and excellent techni- ingly being felt throughout the world's more than 90 megabytes of data on a 40 checkbooks, follow their home finances, and cal support. One angry Quicken user is Cam- economy. megabyte hard disk. The lawsuit occurred run small businesses. Intuit was started in 1983 bridge resident Dan Geer, Director of Secu- -^ On November 10th, Microsoft an- when Microsoft put data compression into its by Scott Cook and has since sold more than rity Consulting for OpenVision, which sells five million copies of its flagship product. computer administration tools. Coinciden- Back in 1983, Microsoft ignored the tally, Geer received a letter in the mail from home finance market Microsoft made a mis- Intuit, a few days after the announcement, Lake When Microsolt finally launched its inviting him to upgrade his copy of Quicken own product, Microsoft Money, it dis- to the latest version. Geer mailed the form covered Lhat it couldn't compete back with the words "Wrong Company" ainst Quicken. Last year, scrawled across the top. His plan now: For- loney languished on retail- sake Microsoft, and keep using his old ver- ers' shelves despite its $15 sion of Quicken. price, while Quicken, Macintosh Quicken users, like Geer, are at $35, remained a in a double bind. What incentive will hit One Microsoft have to bring out the timely ver- Microsoft se- sions of Quicken for the Macintosh? After nior execu- all, Apple's MacOS is a competitor to tive pri- Microsoft's Windows. If you were Bill Gates vately would you be giving Macintosh users good reasons to stay with the Mac? Eventually, though, Geer and thousands like him will probably break down and pur- chase the new version of Quicken from Microsoft, ft's hard to maintain a boycott born of righteous indignation in the face of new features, improved user interface, and bug- fixes. A few years from now, most of us will probably look back at Microsoft's purchase of Quicken as part of the computer industry's "natural" growth cycle. Products to Services Intuit also fits neatly in with the direction that Microsoft is moving. Nearly 40 percent of Intuit's revenue comes from selling supplies and services, everything from checks to win- CONTINUES microsoft T' i m e Li n e continued dow envelopes. Intuit is also making a growing amount of If Microsoft has its way, the most important highway of money from a surcharge it collects on transactions made with them all may soon be its own, The Microsoft Network, origi- its Quicken VISA card. Last year, Intuit announced a deal with nally code-named "Marvel." ^L VISA International, which will eventually allow any user of Quicken to downlead their VISA statement electronically, pay The Marvel of Synergy Power its their bills, and make purchases from their keyboard. All for a As we all learned this year from countless newspaper articles lal nominal fee, of course. on the Internet and the "Information Superhighway," net- ••> BILL GATES FORM Likewise, Microsoft realizes that much of its future earn- works and online services are the next big thing for the com- Micsosorr TO CREATE A BASIC INTERPRETER FOR THE ings will come not from the sale of software, but from a com- puter revolution. The reason is simple economics: Networks MITS Ai TAIR 8080 COMPUWR. ti- mission or surcharge on pur- let companies sell the same at chases made with i ts software •••^^••H^^^^l thing, pure information, again 1977 GATES AND ALLEN DEVELOP VERSIONS OP and information provided over and again, without the ex- BASIC WHICH TLIBV IICENSB TO MANY EARLY COM- its network. That's one of the pense of delivering printed PUTER MAKERS, INCLUDING RADIO SHACK AND APPLE. ideas behind another magazines, books, or record al- Microsoft deal announced this bums. Even better, most of the GATES AND ALLEN ALSO DEVELOP A COBOL, FOR- information—electronic mail, month: a letter of intent, TRAN, AND PASCAL LANGUAGES, WHICH THEY SELL signed November 8 between bulletin boards, and "chat" THROUGH LlFv.BOAT ASSOCIATES (NEW YORK, NY), Microsoft and VISA Interna- rooms—is created by the sub- tional, "to jointly provide a Microsoft predicts that scribers themselves and costs THE COUNTRY'S FIRST MAIL-ORDER SOFTWARE DISTRIBU- the online service provider standard, convenient, and se- TOR. nothing to produce. cure method for executing it's new motto - "Where do 1979 MICROSOFT MOVES TO BELI.EVUE, WA. electronic bank card transac- The U.S. already has three tions across global public and you want to go today?" - big online companies— HIKES TIM PETERSON FROM SFATTLF COMPUTER PROD- private networks." The sys- Prodigy, CompuServe, and UCTS. THF FOL- tem, based on public-key will be seen by more than America Online—with possibly LOWING VI-AK, cryptography, could put more than five million subscrib- Microsoft in a position to ex- 95 %of the adults in the ers between them. These com- PETERSON M-MUS tract a nominal toll for every panies make their money not WORKING < )N i <1SK credit card transaction on the United States within the only from connect fees, but OPERA'DNV.

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