Friday June 12, 11:50 pm Eastern Time
Gates hits U.S. government's suit against Microsoft
LOS ANGELES, June 12 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp (MSFT - news). Chairman Bill Gates sharply criticized the
government's landmark antitrust suit against the software giant in a letter to The Economist magazine.
''America's antitrust laws do not provide any basis fpr government regulators to design software products,'' Gates wrote in a
letter to the magazine in response to an article it had published earlier. The letter was posted on the magazine's Web site.
State and federal governments sued Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft last month, arguing that the company had a monopoly
in the operating system for personal computers and had used it to compete unfairly.
The lawsuit accused Microsoft of using Windows, the crucial operating software on most of the world's personal computers, to
seize control of the software market for browsers to access the Internet. Microsoft has denied the charges.
Critics have claimed Microsoft uses its dominance in computer operating systems to try to drive other companies, such as
Netscape Communications Corp (NSCP - news)., out of business.
''Contrary to the government's central accusation, Microsoft planned the integration of Internet technology into Windows well
before Netscape was even formed, and long before it shipped its first browser in October 1994,'' Gates said in the letter.
''The fact that our browser was integrated into Windows 95 from the outset did not in an way prevent consumers from
choosing another browser,'' he said.
Regulators have sought to force Microsoft to offer its latest operating system, Windows 98, without Microsoft's Internet
browser or with Netscape's browser.
''We have invested hundreds of millions of dollars developing and promoting Windows,'' Gates said. ''We should not be
forced to link Windows to software made by a competitor, whose quality we could not vouch for.''
He said the company was seeking to defend ''the legal right of every company to decide which features go into its own
products.''
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