Daniel;

So Microsoft fails - who cares? The stock market will fall and Bill can take his $40 + Billion and buy a new industry. Who needs software? Perhaps he will buy the land that will be vacant in Silicon Valley and grow Prunes. There is a lot of satisfaction in growing crops and heaven knows some people need Prunes! Not everyone needs software! :)

Tom

>>> Bull. Microsoft did NOT bet the company on .NET. They have a ton of money
>>> in reserve (40? 50? billions) and they will easily survive if .NET
>>> utterly fails.
>>>
>> I woudln't be too sure about that. Keep in mind, everything they are
>> workingon right now is based on .NET. If .NET fails, what, pickup and
>> start over from where they were two years ago? I don't think 40bill can
>> make that happen
>>
>> And if it could, what about their image? Who could every put money into
>> that company if they fell flat on our there face and it too 40 billion to
>> make it stand up again.
>
>In one word: Chrysler.
>
>I wouuld invest money in MS after a .NET failure if I believe it was a good investment. There is also a good chance that the market would panick and drive the stock price to a value well below its "true" value. The stock price will eventually climb to its true value and the opporunists who bought low will make a decent profit. It wouldn't be anything I haven't seen before.
>
>Daniel