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Victor
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More on MSFT:
Thursday July 16 5:52 PM ET
Hatch probe into Microsoft will convene on Thursday
By Charles Cooper, ZDNet
The Senate Judiciary committee probe into software competition will convene next Thursday.
A final list of invitees was not immediately available. In a written release, Committee Chairman Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said
the committee planned to hear from "a number of leading software industry innovators and CEOs."
However, sources say the committee is also trying to invite senior executives representing corporate users to testify about their
relationships with Microsoft. Sources also say the committee wants to hear testimony directly from independent software
vendors, who are expected to outline how they've been hurt in the marketplace by Microsoft's alleged exclusionary tactics.
"You can assume on seeing CEOs of some name companies," one source said.
A spokeswoman for the committee declined to go into details.
The committee was pushing to get the hearing on the calendar before the Aug. 8 congressional recess. Sources say the
committee had a difficult time finding a convenient date that would work for all the invitees.
This is the second set of congressional hearings exploring Microsoft's business practices. Last March, the committee hosted an
all-star panel of top industry executives, including Microsoft's CEO Bill Gates, along with the chief executives of Dell Computer
Corp. Netscape Communications Corp. and Sun Microsystems Inc.
Although the March hearing ended without reaching any conclusion, a prolonged, heated exchange between Gates and
committee chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) made for riveting television watching.
The latest hearing comes against the backdrop of an antitrust lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice and 20 state
attorneys general against Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT), which is being accused of violations of the Sherman Antitrust Act.
Hatch, a Republican senator from Utah, Novell's home state, has emerged as one of Microsoft's fiercest critics. In his
statement, Hatch indicated the committee probe would go beyond the relatively narrow confines of the browser war between
Microsoft and Netscape Communications Corp.(Nasdaq:NSCP)
"Notwithstanding the important consequences of the browser wars, we should not allow preoccupation with this particular issue
to prevent us from examining broader and more current issues which could have significant long term consequences for the
ability of U.S. consumers to reap the rewards of a competitive and innovative software industry, and the continued growth of a
free and open Internet," the statement read.
A spokesman for Microsoft said the company has not received a formal invitation to testify.
"Given Sen. Hatch's continued attacks against Microsoft, it's not clear additional testimony from Microsoft will serve any useful
purpose," said the spokesman, Mark Murray. "Despite repeated requests, Sen. Hatch's staff has refused to provide any
specifics on what this new hearing is about. The server industry and the Internet are incredibly competitive with lots of new and
innovative companies competing every day to bring products to consumers."
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