Herbold says Windows 98 still on track for June
"We probably, er, we're still on the same schedule for releasing this," Herbold told an audience at the Hambrecht & Quist Technology Conference in San Francisco, stumbling slightly over the words.
The product is scheduled to ship June 25 even as DOJ investigators are preparing to mount a case and state trust-busters threaten to file suit before then.
 | |
 | John Dodge tried to nail Gates down on Windows 98, but Bill gave him the brush-off. |
 | |
Herbold declined to predict whether lawsuits would be filed.
Regulation slows innovation
"At this juncture, we don't attempt to speculate what might occur," Herbold said. He said that companies regulated in the past were those who caused "slow innovation and cost being held up at fictitious levels." Herbold added that Microsoft (MSFT) doesn't belong in those categories.
Herbold spent much of his speech praising Microsoft's recently released Windows Terminal Server, or Hydra, saying it would tie together a wide variety of machines including Net PCs, desktop PCs and old or outdated computers.
Sun Microsystems Inc. (SUNW) Vice President George Reyes, who followed Herbold, immediately picked up on the antitrust theme.
"I'm from the somewhat less prominent local company that just wants our antitrust laws enforced," Reyes said as he opened his speech.
Sun's reorg explained
Reyes then went on to explain the company's recent reorganization, which streamlined sales forces and refocused research and development resources.
Reyes said Sun will focus on R&D, geographic expansion, luring developers to the Solaris and Java platforms, and continuing its brand imaging campaign, which has appeared in magazines and newspapers across the country.