Sun Chief Wants No 'Baby Bills'
Wired News Report
7:30 a.m. 1.Feb.99.PST
DAVOS, Switzerland -- Scott
McNealy was throwing sticks and
stones at Microsoft again on
Monday, comparing it to that
antithesis of capitalism, the
"planned economy." But the Sun
Microsystems chief warned
against breaking up the world's
biggest software maker into
smaller companies.
Appearing at the World Economic
Forum's annual meeting -- which
was also attended by Microsoft
chief executive Bill Gates --
McNealy said: "Microsoft is a
planned economy. Left
unfettered, unscrutinized, [and]
unchecked, monopoly power can
be leveraged into other
businesses."
McNealy warned against breaking
Microsoft into pieces, however,
the way the old US telephone
monopoly was deconstructed to
form the Baby Bells.
"The structural remedies that
people are talking about --
separating applications from
operating systems -- is like one
of those horror movies where you
cut the monster in half, and now
you have two monsters," he said.
"I have also heard the suggestion
that we create three Baby Bills....
[But] all you have done then is
rewarded the Microsoft
shareholders for the illegal
behavior of their management, if
they are guilty."
At its ongoing antitrust trial in
Washington, Microsoft has denied
any monopolistic practices -- and
has even denied it has monopoly
power, insisting it faces severe
competition. McNealy has long
disputed this view.
He said Monday that Microsoft
was trying to "leverage" into
areas like consumer appliances,
servers, and other sectors.
"If they are allowed to use that
leverage before the world moves
to this new network economy,
they can establish dominant and
stifling positions in these new
architectures," he said, referring
to banking, retailing, travel,
newspapers, and telephones.
Gates, for his part, sounded a
familiar refrain at the forum. "I
think it would be a tragedy if any
government action held
companies back in terms of doing
more advanced products," he
said.
wired.com |
