Computer Executives Show Support for Microsoft
By JOHN MARKOFF
May 1, 1998
In the strongest show of support to date for the embattled Microsoft Corp., 26 computer industry executives have written to the Justice Department saying that any delay in the introduction of Windows 98 will harm the computer industry.
"Our success depends on the freedom of Microsoft and the rest of America's personal computer industry to create new and innovative products," their letter says.
The support for Microsoft comes at a time when attorneys general from 13 states are close to preparing a joint antitrust action against Microsoft, apparently aimed at blocking the release of Windows 98. The next version of Microsoft's operating software for personal computers, Windows 98 will be shipped to computer makers this month and is to be released to the public by late June. The Justice Department, meanwhile, has been pressing its own suit against the company.
The executives' letter, which was sent to Joel Klein, assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's antitrust division, contends that delaying the operating system would affect the more than 2 million programmers who write software for Windows-based computers, as well as an equal number who work in the computer services industry. The executives said that a delay would also injure the makers of hardware and peripheral products.
"We're quite concerned that a delay in Windows 98 could have an impact on the industry," said Chuck Mulloy, a spokesman for Intel Corp.
If Windows 98 is delayed by legal action, it would probably happen during the back-to-school season, one of the two largest selling periods for the computer industry.
A large number of small companies that make hardware and peripherals are waiting for Windows 98, which provides support for a new hardware feature known as the universal serial bus, which is intended to simplify adding peripherals.
Among the executives who signed the letter were: Andrew Grove, chief executive of Intel; W.J. Sanders III, chief executive of Advanced Micro Devices Inc.; Eckhard Pfeiffer, chief executive of Compaq Computer Corp.; James Halpin, chief executive of CompUSA Inc.; Michael Dell, chief executive of Dell Computer Corp.; Lewis Platt, chief executive of Hewlett-Packard Co.; Teruaki Aoki, chief operating officer of Sony Electronics Inc., and Gordon Eubanks Jr., chief executive of Symantec Corp.
|
