At Comdex, Gates Lauds ‘Choice’
Reeling from a federal judge’s declaration that the company he built turned into a bullying monopoly, Microsoft Corp. Chairman Bill Gates on Sunday seized an opportunity before the friendliest of audiences to depict a future driven by the antithesis of monopoly--consumer choice.
Gates was expected to spend much of his keynote address at the annual Comdex computer convention in Las Vegas talking about the myriad types of equipment that are becoming available and the different systems they will use to tap into and take advantage of the Internet, according to people familiar with the speech outline.
In addition to demonstrating the power of the Windows 2000 operating system, which Microsoft said Sunday is still on track for a February release, Gates for the first time intended to demonstrate a prototype gadget for connecting to the Net for $200 or less.
Code-named Mariner, versions of the “Web companion” device made by Acer, Philips Electronics and others should be available in the second half of next year. One version to be made by Vestel will cost users only an undisclosed monthly fee, said Selcuk Caglar, president of Vestel U.S.A.
“It’s a unique way for MSN [the software giant’s Internet service] to get into the market through the hardware,” said Tim Bajarin of Creative Strategies in Silicon Valley. “This is a very dramatic shift.”
While Gates didn’t plan to address the findings of fact issued Nov. 5 by U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, which opened the door for remedies as radical as a company breakup, the intent of his speech was clear: Microsoft should be left alone because the coming marketplace battles won’t be about the desktop.
Jackson’s ruling in the landmark antitrust case brought by the Justice Department and several states held that Microsoft, the world’s largest company by stock value, monopolized the market for operating systems on standard personal computers, then used that monopoly as leverage in related markets, including Web browsers.
Microsoft’s Windows operating systems are the central nervous system in more than eight out of every 10 PCs, and its corporate power has soared on the back of the computer explosion.
The company’s mission statement, on a plaque at its Redmond, Wash., headquarters, even calls for a computer in every home.
But Gates’ speech marks another step away from that vision, instead declaring his company will be “enabling people with great software any time, anywhere, with any device.”
It comes as computer makers including Hewlett-Packard, Compaq and Dell introduce stripped-down computing devices that are cheaper than their predecessors.
While the theme of Gates’ speech was to be “choice,” several analysts noted that the point of the new Microsoft network devices is that users are bound to look at the MSN start page like most PC users now start at the Windows opening page.
Gates’ speech was expected to reach more than 10,000 industry professionals at the trade’s largest convention. Speakers this week include the chief executives of of Sony, Hewlett-Packard and Cisco Systems.
