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Monday, May 19, 1997 Iomega was down $1/2 Friday, closing at $17 9/16 (-1.75%) TODAY'S RECAP: Iomegans spent another weekend watching the wheels turn around. There were no fresh revelations to seize the group's attention, so instead contributors chose to lock antlers over some rather hypothetical production estimates for both Jaz and LS-120 drives -- hypothetical, because no player in the removable storage sector has been terribly candid about their production rates. The phrase "angels dancing on the head of a pin" leaps to mind, but at the very least the debate has been enlightening as to the challenges that face any analyst who must consider the vicissitudes of this sometimes arcane industry. The opposing sides of this discussion were led by ~TMF Keeler~ and ~HYPEMENOT~, whose posts make up a great portion of this morning's edition of I/T. INDEX:
1) Carnoustie rebuts TMF Parlay's "Dueling Fools"
arguments.
Written by TMF Cheeze. Assisted by TMF Weekly. As always, the following posts represent the thoughts of our contributors, not those of The Motley Fool. And now, the Best of the Board...Started 12:01 am ET 5/16/97:
1) Subj: Re: The All Around Winner Dear TMF Parlay: I think you brought up some good points in your "duel", most especially regarding the JAZ which is certainly a trouble spot in its current iteration. However, I think you've made some significant errors with regard to the Zip. 1) Broad availability of the bandwidth required to fully implement your vision of a "hard-drive storage only" computer world is YEARS away. Not months, YEARS. ISDN, which is STILL unavailable in some states, has met considerable consumer resistance because it is too expensive. People accept the current snail pace to save money. 2) You have made a number of assertions, such as "how many people have two offices, etc." to give the impression that you are plugged into "the little people" whereas an optimistic view of IOM is a proto-wirehead/professional's fantasy. May I remind you that YOUR estimate of possible two computer users (30%) is MORE than the percentage of U.S. computer owners who are currently even USING an internet service? Seems to me you are defining the "little people" to suit your argument rather than examining the entire spectrum of computer users. 3) Your negative portrayal of declining Zip drive prices, paired with your insistence that computer owners DON'T HAVE to have a Zip misses a critical point: if the Zip is cheap enough that to the computer buyer it APPEARS TO BE FREE, WHO WOULDN'T WANT TO HAVE IT? THAT is the mission that a really cheap drive price will accomplish. Since you have made such reference to the CD-ROM be reminded there was a time not too long ago when the CD was considered a possibly useful frill that was NOT mandatory. Software could still be sent compressed on multiple floppy disks. Other relevant factors aside (better speed, proven dependability of the media, larger files to upload), when the CD drives GAVE THE COMPUTER BUYER THE APPEARANCE OF BEING FREE (an unitemizable standard feature, not an option) in certain models and those models sold well, the CD gradually became a standard feature. I have one in my computer. I might add I RARELY use it, but I don't care since IT CAME WITH THE BOX. This is path the Zip has already progressed significantly down, IMHO. Again, I enjoyed your remarks in the duel and appreciate your follow-up on the IOM board. Regards, Carnoustie
WE
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Written and compiled by TMF Cheeze
and MF Jeanie.
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