“Microsoft shares have dropped 16 per cent – the biggest monthly
drop since the 1987 crash when shares fell 25 percent – amid
concerns the software company is slipping in its antitrust defence
and is poised to lose part of its operating system monopoly.”
“But IBM’s announcement this week that it would support Red
Hat’s Linux on its computers unsettled investors, with Microsoft
stock down a further 3 per cent yesterday.”
The company’s fortunes could be worsened if it failed to deliver
its Windows 2000 operating system on time and relatively bug
free.