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Technology Stocks : All About Sun Microsystems - News Only -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Bala Vasireddi who wrote (3)	2/1/1999 12:09:00 PM
From: Rusty Johnson	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 36

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