According to several reliable sources -- and backed up by
tips dropped off by numerous readers
-- Microsoft Corp. is again sending out probes into the
industry to explore the possibilities of
buying partial or full rights to one of the emerging
Intel-compatible operating systems: most
notably, Rhapsody/x86 and the BeOS for Intel.
Almost a dozen of Rumors' contacts in the industry are
reporting that they've heard, directly or
indirectly, that Microsoft is worried about the limits of its
technology, and the problems of
Department of Justice probes into Windows98, which will force
virtually all Windows users to
use Microsoft Internet Explorer as their interface, something
that the DOJ will most likely try to
stop in its tracks. Without Windows98, Microsoft will be dead
in the water...it does not have a
new OS ready to bring to customers for at least another three
years after Win98 ships.
If the DOJ issue becomes serious -- as many hope that it will
-- the rumors of Microsoft buying
Rhapsody or BeOS Intel technologies for use in Windows may
change ever so slightly...to
suggest that Microsoft may end up buying the Intel versions
of Rhapsody or the BeOS to be
Windows.
~~~
Joe isn't it nice to know your efforts are for naught? ;-)
Tim
--Give me back my bullets, put 'em back where they belong. ...Lynard Skynard
<> tbyars@earthlink.net <>