Lowballing and bet hedging

[John Bryan <jnelson@bga.com>]

Doesn't it strike you as a little odd, a little
curious, a little inconsistent with the pattern of
past behavior and known temperament, for MS to be 
low balling the ballyhoo of W98???

I mean they spent as much money on the W95 marketing
campaign as Apple did for NeXT Software, (ca. $400m).

Doesn't it seem odd that since the main purpose of
w98 is to tie IE with windows (so that they by default
are the number one dominant web browser on the planet
solely by virtue or fault of commanding 90% of that
market, and thereby can dictate what software is
needed to access the Internet, thereby leveraging
their monopoly of the desktop to the Internet),
that they would then not even be fanning the flames
of the great hype machine just a little bit???

Here it is less than 3 months away, less than 90 days,
from the first major release of windows since September
of 1995, almost 3 years ago, and we have not heard so
much as a peep from the Microsoft Marketing Hype Machine?

Granted there have been a few ads here and there, but
compared to what their goals are, and compared to what
the reason for this release is, and compared to what
their past behavior and known temperament is, what we
have seen so far is virtually nil.

Might it be that by low balling this release, they are
pre-emptively hedging their bet for the possibility
that the DOJ stops them before they release it?  

Think about it, if they built up such a media storm
as in times past, as it would seem they would be even
more inclined to do now given what is at stake and
the energy and resources they have put into this
Internet thing, and then the DOJ nixed it, that they
would then suffer more of a backlash from their hype?

If they spent millions over months to hype it up,
and then were made to not deliver it, it would be seen
as that much more of a blow to their strength.  Whereas
if they lowball it, this risk is minimized.  The gains
may not be as gross or immediate, but their potential
damage is decreased as well.

Just a passing thought....

-J