A Big Day for MicrosoftA Big Day for Microsoft
Today, May 24, 2000 Microsoft will be in battle with both legal opponents and competitors. On the West Coast, Bill Gates will host Microsoft’s annual summit for his chief executives throughout the corporate world. In this Summit Gate’s will disclose new plans for his so called "third generation of the Internet." Gate’s strategy is to connect even more the tie between his franchise and the Internet.
An idea that will be introduced during the summit is a new technology for the corporate operating system called NGWS or Next Generation Windows Services. This service would enable the Windows application to be used in cellular phones, and personal digital assistants cognate to the Palm. However one of the major downfalls to NGWS and other plans for the "third generation of the Internet," are Microsoft’s legal issues.
However on the East Coast, Gate’s lawyers will be attending a hearing before U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who will determine whether or not Microsoft should be split up into two different companies. If this occurs there would be two different branches of the company, software applications and operating systems. The judge has already ruled that the software maker violated the U.S. antirust law. The goal of the hearing today is to implement a proper remedy to insure restoration of the competition. Dana Hayter, an antirust and intellectual property attorney with Fenwick & West in Palo Alto, California states that, "the goal of any remedy will be to prevent Microsoft from repeating the same mistakes."
The outcome for Microsoft’s big day is not certain. Gate’s new propositions for the Internet and Windows role outside of the PC have to convince his top executives. On the other hand, his lawyers must justifiably convince Judge Jackson that breaking up the company and effectively removing the browser and other Internet technologies from Windows is wrong.