Based on these specs, it would be reasonable to assume that the world of personal computing " which is a pretty big world " is about to take a quantum step up. Security traders take note: nowhere in society will these changes have a bigger impact than in your world.

Firstly, there will be huge opportunities to invest in micro-cap companies that will successfully launch a host of new application products on this advanced Windows platform. Then there is also going to be a renewed focus on the major PC, software and chip manufacturers like MSFT, ORCL, INTC, AMD, and DELL.

But the best trading opportunities will be in the applications software arena, in such fields as: electronic gaming, telecommunications (video telephony and VoIP), and real-time securities trading, of those that come quickly to mind.

As I see it, Longhorn will lead to a whole new world of efficiency and productivity. For those who are down on the equity market today, I urge you to think ahead to tomorrow. And if that future is as bright as I think it will be, the equity market will soon move to new high levels.

Sometime this year, there will be a cycle bottom. It will occur as most investors are hung up on rising interest rates, mortgage costs and commodity prices, ‘twin' deficits, forex imbalances, and so forth. But the smart ones will be accumulating stocks of the highest quality companies, i.e., those with a proven management ability to grow top-line and bottom-line operating numbers through thick and thin, and who have used the past couple years to strengthen their corporate balance sheets.

That's the reason I have been busy readying the Cara Global Best 100 list of companies, which are the ones that I will be accumulating through this cycle bottom.

And, the most observant of the situational investors will be gleaning the micro-cap stocks for opportunities that will be successful spin-offs of the newest Windows product.

I believe that technically the U.S. equity market is in a secular (very long-term) bull market, because I don't believe the next cycle low will exceed the 2002-2003 7,500 of the Dow (approx) on the downside, and I believe that a new high (12,000 or more) will be reached on the upside, within two years of the cycle bottom.

Higher highs and higher lows is a definition of a bull (rising) market. And that's what I think is in evidence today.

Yes, I was concerned about a cycle high two months ago at 10,900 (approx.), but a true bear market would require that the Dow fall to a minimum of 8,200, i.e., a drop of ~25 pct, or in the extreme to 7,500 or lower, which on the basis of current fundamental analysis is possible but very unlikely.

At some point in the next five or six FOMC meetings (held every six weeks), the Fed will decide that inflation/speculation is under control, and will cease tightening, as I see it. But equity traders always jump the gun by three to six months, so it is my view that the U.S. equity market has one more cycle down, which could be tied to the USD-Yuan revaluation process, and then the next bull phase will begin.

Before that point, traders will be wisely watching for downward price spikes of stocks of the best quality companies. That is the time traders have to push themselves into action, because the opportunities will be few and the window short.

And remember that name Longhorn " the one linked to technology, and not meat products.

P.S. If there are application software developers out there who read my blog who want to send me a note as to how they see Longhorn affecting their future, I would dearly like to hear from you. This topic is going to replace last year's favorite, flash memory.

P.S. #2 I am not a fan of Microsoft or MSFT -- just so you know. MSFT is not on the Cara Global Best 100 companies list. But, being pragmatic, I think there will be small company OEMs and developers of application software that will take advantage of Longhorn in future, as I see some doing today with Apple. My interest is strictly in finding a list of potential winners for tomorrow.