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• It makes you wonder about MS's inclusion in the DJIA.

I've been wondering about that too.

Everyone, including recent comments from none other than Ballmer himself, seem to believe that Tech stocks (including Microsoft) are overvalued.

Greenspan said something awhile back abound overexhuberance in Tech stocks, too. Both Ballmer's and Greenspan's comments caused a momentary dip in Tech stocks, but they picked right back up in a week or so.

The market Analysts seem to be in la-la land. I can't find the reference now, but I saw a bizaare Analyst Opinion rating MS a 'strong Buy' because Windows 2000 finally had a ship date of Feb, 2000 and traditionally MS has done well in the months leading up to a ship date. Sheesh... Whatever happened to The Random Walk? Whatever happened to analysis?

Almost everybody in the Technology Press and Industry seem to believe that MS faces tough new competition in the form of (no particular order): Linux, Sun/StarOffice, Java apps, and Apple. Also, almost everyone seems to believe that the anti-trust finding of fact will go against MS, but the stock just keeps climbing and climbing.

Any sensible person would expect SOME kind of correction in MSFT soon. Even Ballmer warns that it's overvalued, along eith the other tech stocks.

I have heard the opinion that the broad market has not been doing so well as the Blue Chips. And that this has led to a false sense of security. When people see the DJIA climbing beyond all sense, they think the economy is doing better than it actually is.

It's almost like some Wall Street cabal feels there's no way to restore sanity to this market except to put MSFT on the DJIA before MSFT takes a big fall.

Intel was also added to the DJIA at the same time MSFT was. A lot of people seem to believe there's soft demand for processors coming up and it appears that Intel has stronger-than-expected competition from AMD. This would seem to be another choice to weigh down the DJIA.

Maybe I'm paranoid.

The above is pure opinion based on analysis. I have no inside information from Intel or MSFT.

I recently saw an very good piece on eye laser surgery in "Fortune". You can not read it online, but nethertheless you can learn more here.
It basically says thatthere is a boom in laser eye surgery and that this will be the most common surgery soon. They claim that it is possible to achieve near-perfect sight now, but in 2-3 years, it should be possible to get more-than-perfect sight. The main problem is to hold the eye rigid during the surgery. Now omeone has invented a radar system which scans the eye 4000 times a second. The laser can then follow all eye movements and therefore cut a perfect circle. This should correct the "glare" some people have around their sight after the surgery (because of uneven cuts).

Some more info on my previous post, and based upon a quick web search (gotta love NorthernLight):

Microsoft Claims Victory in $1 Million Oracle Bounty

Microsoft's Press Release for that date, which strangely doesn't specifically mention the contest

MS Press Release...scroll thru the usual PR BS to find some "real" data on the benchmark.

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Question: How do I leverage the power of the internet?

Two or three of the top search engines cover only 15% of the Web (there is one that reportedly hits near 30%, but its name escapes me),

Northern Light, as I recall. I don't know that that claim is verified in any credible way, however.

I prefer a shotgun or a sniper's rifle when I'm huntin' ;-)...