WinInsider

Microsoft already dominates computer software and now its employees, past and present, are dominating legislative posts in the company's heartland of Bellevue, Redmond and Kirkland. Of six successful candidates from the 45th and 48th districts headed for Olympia next month, four are current or former Microsofties. The increased presence of lawmakers with past or present links to Microsoft may in part reflect the company's growing stature as a corporate citizen. It also mirrors a corresponding decline in legislators with links to Boeing; they numbered about 10 in the late 1970s but are down to just two in the newly elected Legislature.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates has raised his stake in wireless telephone company Nextel Partners Inc. to more than 5 percent by purchasing shares from wireless pioneer Craig McCaw, Nextel Partners said on Monday. The news sent Nextel Partners shares up about 12 percent. Gates' private investment arm, Cascade Investment LLC, bought 3.75 million Nextel Partners shares from McCaw and now owns 12.7 million shares, or a 5.2 percent stake. Nextel Communications and Nextel Partners have continued to post strong results, despite a tough economic environment and an industry-wide slowdown in subscriber growth, due to the popularity of Direct Connect, a unique service similar to a walkie-talkie that is especially popular among technicians and construction crews.

A recently-revealed security flaw in Microsoft's Internet Information Server may have been over-hyped, according to testing figures from a UK-based Internet research firm. Netcraft's figures also showed that the large Web-hosting businesses that gained prominence in the 1990s are continuing to lose out to smaller, customer-supported firms. According to figures from Netcraft, not many IIS servers are likely to be open to an attack that exploits a flaw in Microsoft's Data Access Components (MDAC), despite the flaw receiving a "critical" rating by Microsoft last week. Netcraft, which tests hundreds of servers conducted by the company's security business over the last two years have shown few sites with the affected MDAC component turned on.

A growing rift among members of the Liberty Alliance authentication project is placing the technology's future in question. At the core of the problem is exactly where to target the single-sign-on technology in the face of stiff and growing client-side competition from Microsoft Corp.'s Passport service. Officials at the Liberty Alliance's founder and chief sponsor, Sun Microsystems Inc., last week went so far as to concede defeat to the Passport authentication service on the Windows platform.

"There is no way we can compete with them there. They have that market tied down really tight," said Jonathan Schwartz, executive vice president at Sun's software group, in Menlo Park, Calif.

Microsoft on Monday plans to issue the second Windows .Net Server 2003 release candidate and to announce changes to its software licensing policy for businesses. The licensing modifications could radically change how businesses obtain client-access licenses (CALs) for future Microsoft products. The company until now has required businesses to buy a separate license for each computer or device connecting to one of its server products. Starting with Windows .Net Server 2003, which is slated for release in April, businesses also will have the option of purchasing CALs per user, rather than just per machine.

West Virginia's attorney general would like to make West Virginia the second state to appeal the landmark settlement between Microsoft and the federal government, but he's not sure his office has enough cash. "We want to appeal with Massachusetts," he said. "We do have money issues. We're rolling it around." He did not give details. All nine attorneys general think the judge gave them short shrift, McGraw said, but the seven were willing to accept the deal as the most expedient solution.

Two news services yesterday reported that Tokyo-based videogame maker Sega Corp. may be acquired by Microsoft Corp. Neither company, including San Francisco-based subsidiary SEGA of America Inc., could be reached for comment. The Jiji Press English-language Japanese press service reported that shares of Sega Corp. rose as high as the exchange's daily limit of 200 yen, to close up 134 yen at 1,385 yen ($11.29) on the Tokyo Stock Exchange yesterday afternoon "amid a market rumor that U.S. software giant Microsoft Corp. will acquire the Japanese video game maker."

The broad-based antitrust fight against Microsoft Corp. yesterday dwindled to Massachusetts versus the software giant, as seven other states announced they would accept the landmark settlement reached earlier this month by the company and the Bush administration.

One antitrust expert said Massachusetts' chances of a successful appeal are low. "If ever there was a loser on its face, that's it," said George Mason University antitrust professor Ernest Gellhorn. He called U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly's decision approving the settlement "bulletproof."

Massachusetts officials said Friday they will appeal a recent ruling in Microsoft's more than four-and-a-half year-old antitrust case. "We are going to appeal," state attorney general Tom Reilly said Friday during a conference call. "This appeal is necessary to protect consumers." Massachusetts delivered its decision ahead of a Monday deadline. The nine plaintiff states have 30 days from U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly's Oct. 1 ruling to decide whether to file an appeal. But Massachusetts is not likely to be supported by other states that have previously criticized the settlement as inadequate. "We are going it alone," Reilly said.

The European Commission said Friday there is no further need to look into the transfer of a top EU information technology official to Microsoft Corp., satisfied the expert will not transmit sensitive information to the computer software giant. "He will work in a totally different field," said EU chief spokesman Jonathan Faull. "We have spoken with Mr. Eckert and we have clarified his position," Faull said.

There were fears that Microsoft Corp. could obtain valuable confidential information from the hiring of Detlef Eckert, the EU Commission's head of information technology planning, especially since the Commission still has an ongoing antitrust case against the U.S. company.