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Follow UsLisa Baertlein
MOUNTAIN VIEW: Technology icon Bill Gates on Monday greeted a
standing-room-only crowd as he officially opened the Microsoft Technology
Center-Silicon Valley, the largest and most sophisticated of four now operated
by the world's No. 1 software maker.
The center is a development and consulting laboratory in Mountain View,
Calif., where Microsoft customers can build and test applications based on the
company's new .Net platform, which aims to enable mobile computing, real-time
communication, e-business and other activities on the Internet.
"Only if we get literally tens of thousands of people to do work around
.Net will it achieve a critical mass," said Gates. .Net is Microsoft's
strategy to maintain its dominance among software makers as computing shifts
away from the so-called client-server model upon which the company was built.
"We needs new ways of doing joint development. This is an investment in
these new partnerships. This will be measured by how many .Net solutions we can
build here," Gates said.
Microsoft also operates tech centers in Toronto, Boston and Austin, Texas. It
plans to open a similar facility in Chicago later this year. Its technology
partners include Compaq Computer Corp. and Unisys Corp.
No monopoly on brains
During the Silicon Valley center's first four weeks of operation, Microsoft
customers such as antivirus giant McAfee.com and portal service provider
MyWay.com have been stress testing their .Net based applications to insure that
they are reliable and able to handle sharp spikes in usage.
SongPro chairman and chief executive Ron Jones also has been on site. His
company makes a device that plugs into a hand-held Nintendo Game Boy and enables
users to download music, view album covers and lyrics, and read and listen to
e-books.
Company representatives have been working at the tech center since March 19,
building a Web site from which they will sell the devices and eventually link to
a catalog of music and e-book offerings, Jones said.
"Bill Gates doesn't have a monopoly on brains," Jones joked.
"He needs our help. There are 100 million Game Boys out there and he
doesn't have a product for the Game Boy."
(C) Reuters Limited 2001.