> BUT unless somebody can some up with >1$b, forget taking on M$. I
> already tried it with a promise of 1/2$b and that wasn't enough to
> protect us. And don't for a moment think that producing something 
> better will be more than 1% of the job.

I was going to try to take a shot with $100M... That would cover
development of an initial product line and the beginnings of hardware
production. My business plan needs quite a bit of work. =\ Getting that
much investment while retaining enough freedom to deliver the product
you want is another challenge... 

1B is an awfuly big pile of venture... You would have to be VERY
familiar with the market to get that much... 

-- 
The Linux developer community operates like an anthill.
Thousands of autonomous agents working togeather to produce a laberynth.
http://users.erols.com/alangrimes/  <my website.