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Gates smiles! New product plans to move ahead

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CIOL Bureau
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SEATTLE: Microsoft Corp. chairman and co-founder Bill Gates said on Thursday

that an appeals court decision that reversed an earlier order to break up the

world's largest software company will allow it to move ahead with its plans for

new products.

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Microsoft Corp. said on Thursday that it was pleased with a US appeals

court's reversal of a proposed breakup of the software giant, saying the ruling

would give it good standing in any retrial. But the software giant, which was

sued by the US Justice Department and 19 states for allegedly using its Windows

operating system monopoly illegally, also indicated it was ready to head to the

bargaining table for a settlement.

Gates, speaking at a press conference at the Redmond, Washington

headquarters, said he was pleased with the decision, and said it opened the door

to a possible settlement of the antitrust case, which has dogged the company for

four years.

"With this ruling, there is a new framework and so it would be a good

time for all parties involved to sit down together and see what kind of

resolution can be worked out," he said. "I won't rate the chances of

that in advance, but I'd say that the fact that this narrows the case quite a

bit and some of the key principles laid out in the decision make me think that

it's absolutely worth making an effort there," he added.

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Gates, answering reporters questions about the effect of the decision on

Microsoft's upcoming release of its new operating system Windows XP, said there

was nothing to stop the company from releasing the software as planned. "We

are moving ahead with Windows XP as a product that has the features that

consumers want," Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said. "There's nothing

in today's ruling that changes our plan for our future products, including

Windows XP."

Both Gates and Jeff Raikes, a top executive at Microsoft, said that the

ruling was met with a sense of relief. "I'm sure you'll understand, living

in Seattle, the feeling of the sun breaking through the clouds," said

Raikes, vice president of productivity and business services. "All of us

here at Microsoft see this ruling as the sunshine we have been waiting

for."

"It is an endorsement of the right to go forward with innovations that

consumers want and the removal of the cloud of breakup," he said.

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Microsoft pleased with ruling, eyes settlement

"Today's ruling drastically narrows the case and removes the breakup

cloud from the company. We will continue to work to resolve the remaining issues

without the need for continued litigation, which benefits no one "

Microsoft spokesman Jim Cullinan said.

Both sides claimed victory, but the stock market was clearly on Microsoft's

side. Its stock ended Thursday higher while shares of key rivals fell. After

being halted most of the day, Microsoft shares ended up $1.60, or 2.3 percent,

at $72.74 in a burst of trading that briefly overwhelmed Nasdaq's systems.

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The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ordered that a new lower

court judge look at whether Microsoft illegally tied its Internet browser to

Windows to maintain its monopoly, a question that could have implications for

Windows XP, the upcoming version of the operating system.

The seven-judge appeals panel agreed that Microsoft holds a monopoly in

personal computer operating systems and that some of its competitive practices

amounted to illegal use of that monopoly.

The court also ordered that a new lower court judge look at whether Microsoft

illegally tied its Internet browser to Windows to maintain that monopoly, a

question that could have implications for future versions of the software that

bundle in other features.

But it overturned a ruling by the lower court judge, Thomas Penfield Jackson,

that Microsoft had tried to monopolize the Web browser market. Microsoft said

the bulk of the appeals ruling was positive and supported its argument that it

has the right to keep adding features to Windows.

(C) Reuters Limited 2001.

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