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To: jach who wrote (36778)	3/1/1998 4:15:00 PM
From: Glenn D. Rudolph	Respond to of 61433

Gates faces off with rivals before Senate panel Reuters Story - March 01, 1998 15:46 %BUS %US %DPR %ENT MSFT NSCP SUNW DELL GPSI V%REUTER P%RTR By David Lawsky WASHINGTON, March 1 (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. chief Bill Gates and some of his bitterest computer industry rivals face off this week before a Senate panel in a high-stakes battle for public opinion. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch, often a critic of Microsoft, called the hearing for 10 a.m. (1500 GMT) Tuesday to look at the role of monopolies and competition in the personal computer industry. The panel includes the chief executive officers of five software and computer companies, along with an analyst who plans to stand back from the controversies. Jim Barksdale of Netscape Communications of Mountain View, Calif., Scott McNealy of Sun Microsystems of Palo Alto, Calif., Michael Dell of Dell Computer Corp. of Round Rock, Texas, and Doug Burgum of Great Plains Software Inc. of Fargo, N.D. will be at the table with Gates. They will be joined by Stewart Alsop, an analyst who is now a venture partner in New Enterprise Associates of Menlo Park, Calif. The Senate probe into Microsoft and monopolies tracks an inquiry by the Justice Department. The Justice Department has charged that Microsoft violated a 1995 consent decree aimed at increasing competition in the software industry. The department says Microsoft holds a monopoly position in personal computer operating system software and has leveraged that market power to unfairly compete against Netscape. Both Netscape and Microsoft manufacture software browsers used to peruse the Internet's World Wide Web. Hatch at first invited only Gates, Barksdale and McNealy. Both Barksdale and McNealy are openly hostile to Gates and highly critical of the way he competes. Sun is in the middle of a suit against Microsoft. After the invitations went out, Gates and Hatch spoke on the telephone. According to aides for both men, Gates agreed to appear but expressed concern that the panel be "balanced and fair." So Hatch added two additional CEOs sympathetic to Gates -- Dell and Burgum. And the committee also brought Alsop to the panel to add an independent voice. Alsop writes a column for Fortune Magazine and was a computer analyst for years. "My expectation is that I am supposed to say 'this is what the issues are,' not to have a position," said Alsop. Those in the companies say that they too want an examination of the issues, not the personalities. "The issues are more important than the people," said Michael Morris, chief counsel for Sun. "The issues include monopoly power and how it is exercised and the degree to which the exercise of that power forecloses consumer choice and stifles innovation." Netscape's chief counsel, Roberta Katz, said the hearing would provide an opportunity to help explain to people why they should care about competition in the software industry. "Software is as significant in the information age as oil has been in the industrial age and therefore everyone needs to know what's happening in the software industry," she said. A Microsoft Spokesman, Jim Cullinen, said that Gates hopes the hearing "will provide a fair and balanced dialogue about our industry and the exciting developments in technology today."