While Bloom's departure is not in itself disastrous for Oracle, it is yet another chink in the armor.
We have said for some time that Windows 2000 will have a slow ramp because companies take time to test and deploy new operating systems. Windows 2000 is basically a second half of 2000 story.
The bottom line is, the way things are laid out on the table right now, they just aren't going to work. The government doesn't really understand how technology works.
Basically, the key is going to be the appeal process. I don't really see how this is anything different. I don't think anybody's assuming that the company's going to get broken up.
We believe BEA is well positioned as one of the leaders in the e-commerce infrastructure software and applications server software markets.
The stock had a great run-up in anticipation of solid earnings, and I think their database revenue was a little shy of what people were looking for -- that's probably why people are selling in after-market (trading). Overall, it was a good quarter.
As a result of strong product offerings and a successful execution track record, we believe the company is currently on track to reach the pivotal $1 billion annual sales milestone faster than most companies in the enterprise software sector.
I'm saying basically to hold the stock, don't panic -- it got ahead of itself -- and wait.
The event was more of a marketing event than a product launch, as a lot of the details were predictably vague. Further, CEO Ballmer conceded offstage that it likely would be several years before the .NET platform has any material impact on Microsoft's financials.
This is a company that is clearly in rebuild mode. It's still somewhat of a 'show me' situation but it's a great start.
