HIGH TECH CORNER: BILL GATES BATTLES JUSTICE DEPARTMENT

The battle continues with Microsoft and the Department of Justice, with Netscape EMAIL showing former Netscape boss Jim Clark inviting Microsoft to "take an equity position" in his firm.

The e-mail was six months before the June 1995 meeting in which Microsoft allegedly tried to strong-arm its rival into an anti-competitive agreement. Jim Barksdale, Netscape's exec., said that the message was written "in a moment of weakness. I am sure that Microsoft can make anyone feel weak at the knees.

More DOJ damaging evidence came out when Microsoft attorney John Warden got founder of Netscape, James Clark, to admit that he knew Microsoft was going to give its browser away before Netscape even launched its first beta.

But do people really want the government to break up Microsoft like it did AT&T? The DOJ would tell you that the break up of AT&T was good for us. I surely don't feel that my phone service got better or cheaper.

Bill Gates, Bill Clinton: More similarity than just a first name?

The polls show that today's computer user feels that the government is simply putting its nose where it does not belong. In a way it is similar to the Bill Clinton scandal. The American people's approval rating for the president is higher than Ronald Reagan's at this same time of his presidency.

Even more astounding is the fact that most Americans feel that he did lie and perjured himself. Most Americans still do not want him removed from office. The attitude today of the American public seems to take the direction of its pocketbook. As in the case of Bill Clinton, if the economy is doing good then don't mess with it or him.

The U.S. sentiment for both Bills seems quite similar. I guess if your name is Bill and you control the free world in either software or nuclear power and Joe American is doing financially well then all is forgiven.

Microsoft reported income of $1.52 billion or 56 cents per share this year, while last year it was only 36 cents. People with 401K plans are very happy. Wall Street only expected 49 cents per share even though Microsoft has now sold over 10 million copies of Windows 98 with the Internet Explorer included.

See the Bill Gates Video testimony as well as the latest scoops on the lawsuit at my HI-TECH CORNER Web page at (BOLD) www.semissourian.com (UNBOLD).

With the need for more small offices to gain Internet access, a new product has arrived that fits the need nicely. Protec Microsystems (BOLD) www.protec.ca (UNBOLD) has released WEBSHARE. It is a hardware external modem that allows three computers to use it at the same time with only one Internet access account. Starting at a retail of $160 it's a very good deal. The unit even includes three serial cables to plug your various computers serial ports to the box.

As if Windows 98 were not a jump, I am now testing the new (BOLD) Windows 2000 (UNBLOD) that will ship first quarter 1999. This is not the next version of the standard windows 95/98 family but is actually Windows NT 5.0.

I have to say that I really like NT 5.0. It is faster and more stable than the 16/32 bit hybrid known as Win95/98. If you plan on ever upgrading again then this is the one. There will be no more releases of the original 95/98 family of operating systems. This massive new operating system from Microsoft will run not only on the current Intel 32-bit Pentium processors but the new 64-bit Merced processor that will be released first quarter 2000.

If you thought that going from a 286 to a Pentium II was fast then hold on to your hat. The first release of the Merced will run at a blazing clock speed of (BOLD) 900 MHz (UNBOLD). Yes this will be the slowest version of the processor available. The second release of the processor will clock in at the gigahertz range.

If you are running Windows NT 4.0 as a server or workstation currently, then you need to download the latest service pack 4. It is the last service pack before Windows 2000 and will allow you to migrate to the new OS when released. You can get it at (BOLD) www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/1998/Oct98/SP4NTPr.htm (UNBOLD). The service pack truly makes the NT 4.0 server much more reliable than Netware.

As always feel free to contact me at digital@ldd.net or at www.digitallabs.com

Rich Comeau is an electronics scientist and owner of Digital Labs of Cape Girardeau. E-mail him at digital@ldd.net