Oracle continues to be a margin expansion story and we expect that trend to continue this quarter. We expect the increased operating leverage to come in the form of lower sales and marketing expenses.

I continue to be amazed at the situational ethics, and that part of the culture of Oracle continues on. And the Chuck Phillips thing -- it's almost like the corporate equivalent of the Stockholm Syndrome.

The applications business continues to stumble and this quarter shows that. Oracle doesn't have the best applications products. That's why they want to buy PeopleSoft.

If this trend continues throughout the remainder of the fourth quarter 2005 and into next year, it would signify a solid victory in the music industry's efforts against illegal music file sharing in the U.S..

Investors should view both the DOJ's and Microsoft's remedy proposals as the two end points in the spectrum of possible outcomes. However, given Judge Jackson's negative stance toward Microsoft throughout the entire legal proceeding, we suspect that the remedy judgment will more closely align with the government's proposal than Microsoft's version.

Although the news is certainly not a positive, we do not believe it is a 'death blow' either.