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A L S O__T O D A Y Folk rock of ages By Geoff Edgers Roger McGuinn's Web site is an experiment in communal musical memory - - - - - - - - - - T A B L E__T A L K HTML frames: What are they good for? When are they more cumbersome than helpful? Join the discussion in the Table Talk's Digital Culture area - - - - - - - - - - R E C E N T L Y The geeks and the aliens By Janelle Brown Why are the tech industry's best and brightest so determined to spearhead the hunt for extraterrestrials? (05/06/98) Web-ability By Mike Britten Even people who aren't in the position to enjoy all the Web's bells and whistles ought to be able to access its information (05/05/98) The gene genie By Jeffrey Obser Jeremy Rifkin's new book, "The Biotech Century," warns of a genetic-bazaar future. (05/05/98) Groveling for dollars By Greg Costikyan Bugs, babes and booze: For game developers rustling up financing, there's a million potholes on the road to success (05/01/98) The 21st Challenge No. 8 Results By Charlie Varon and Jim Rosenau (05/01/98) - - - - - - - - - - BROWSE THE 21ST LET'S GET THIS STRAIGHT ARCHIVES - - - - - - - - - - _______

Nothing must stop Windows 98! GATES TO WORLD: WHAT'S GOOD FOR MICROSOFT IS GOOD FOR THE COUNTRY. - - - - - - BY SCOTT ROSENBERG | Wednesday's Wall Street Journal reports that Bill Gates met Tuesday night with the Justice Department's chief antitrust lawyer, Joel Klein, to "make a personal and direct presentation of what would be at stake in any new antitrust lawsuit." And just what is at stake? The very future of civilization! -- according to Microsoft execs and other computer industry leaders gathered in Manhattan Tuesday. The company called the event a "rally" in support of its position -- but there were no milling crowds of fervent Windows fans chanting, "Hell, no, we won't wait! Don't delay Windows 98!" Instead, Gates and allies took to the mikes at an orchestrated PR event to present a series of warnings of escalating direness. Microsoft's chief financial officer had already cautioned, in a letter last week, that any move by the Justice Department or state attorneys general to block the June release of Windows 98 would have "broad, negative consequences not just for Microsoft but also for the entire PC industry." Windows 98 is scheduled to be distributed to computer manufacturers on May 15, making that date a de facto deadline for government action. At yesterday's "rally," Gates widened the scope of the warning about a Windows 98 delay: "The effect would be profound and would ripple through the economy." Compaq CEO Eckhard Pfeiffer went further: "An injunction delaying Windows 98 would clearly have a negative impact on the country as a whole ... I think there would be a major national disappointment." A Harvard economist named N. Gregory Mankiw took the prophecy to its logical extreme, suggesting that any Windows 98 postponement "would throw sand into the gears of human progress." These ballooning hyperboles have left industry analysts bemused, since Microsoft has spent so much of its recent marketing energy in an effort to reduce expectations for Windows 98. The new operating system has been positioned not as a great crank of the gears of human progress but as a mildly useful "tune-up" -- a middling service upgrade and bug fix rather than a radical improvement like Windows 95. The trade press reports that few software publishers have timed new product releases to coincide with the Windows 98 rollout. And Windows 98 is aimed exclusively at home users; businesses are encouraged to embrace Windows NT instead. Astute readers will remember that the product now known as Windows 98 was originally scheduled for a 1997 release. Microsoft, like many software companies, is notorious for missing its own deadlines. In the San Jose Mercury News, the general counsel for Microsoft competitor Sun asked, "Where are the gross macro-economic effects of Microsoft's own failure to ship its products on time? Does it only become a problem when the government affects that?" - - - - - - - - - - - - N E X T__P A G E .|. A corporate Catch-22 -- Microsoft must be a monopoly after all