[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
must have been the other Bill Gates
February 17, 2000
Microsoft Denies Gates Offered to Open Windows Code
REUTERS INDEX | INTERNATIONAL | BUSINESS | TECHNOLOGY
Filed at 8:41 p.m. ET
By Reuters
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp.(MSFT.O) on
Thursday strongly denied that
Chairman Bill Gates had told Bloomberg Television in an
interview that he would be willing
to open the Windows operating system source code to
competitors to settle an antitrust suit
with the U.S. Justice Department.
``Bill did not make any of the comments attributed to him
about the settlement,'' Microsoft
spokesman Jim Cullinan said. ''The comments they said Bill
made are just not true.''
The suit by the Justice Department and 19 states is in a
mediation phase and both sides have
been instructed by the mediating judge, Richard Posner, not
to talk to the media about details
of the case.
Just hours after Gates unveiled Windows 2000, the latest
version of its flagship product,
Bloomberg quoted Gates as saying, ``Microsoft Corp. would be
willing to open the source
code for Windows software to competitors to settle the
antitrust case filed by the U.S.
Department of Justice.''
Bloomberg later issued a correction saying that the release
should have read, ``Bill Gates
agreed with the statement'' that Microsoft would be willing
to open the Windows source code
in order to settle.
Cullinan emphasized that Gates had made no comments about
opening the Windows source
code. Windows accounts for about 40 percent of the Redmond,
Wash.-based software
company's revenues.
``He just said that we would be doing our best to settle the
case,'' Cullinan said, adding that
such statements were the company's routine way of answering
questions about the antitrust
suit.
Microsoft planned to make a transcript of the interview
available on its Web site later on
Thursday, Cullinan said.
The Justice Department has argued that Microsoft abused its
monopoly in computer
operating systems to crush rivals and stifle innovation,
charges that the court has largely
agreed with.
There has been speculation that the Justice Department could
seek a break-up of Microsoft, a
move the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant vigorously
opposes.
Another solution would be to open the Windows source code,
which would let other software
developers, including Microsoft competitors, create and sell
their own versions of Windows,
analysts have said.