New Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has dismissed arguments made by US government lawyers in favour of breaking the company into three parts as "absolutely reckless and irresponsible". Justice Department lawyers suggested breaking Microsoft in three during a secret meeting before Bill Gates announced his intention to step aside last week. Gates plans to remain as chairman and take on the role of "chief software architect", developing a new software platform that uses the Net to deliver personal data to any device.
Gates's move and the company's emphasis on new generation software adds weight to its arguments during the antitrust trial that it will soon face unprecedented competition. Its lawyers maintain that no federal intervention is necessary and are expected to argue forcefully against any forced breakup of the company when they resume settlement talks this week.
EURO NOT READY: Nearly half of Irish businesses do not have a formal strategy in place for the Euro changeover in 2002, according to a report commissioned by Bull Cara Group. Around 30 per cent are not confident that they will be ready on time, it found.
RELAXED DECISION: Relaxed rules allowing companies to sell data-scrambling software with practically no restrictions have been disclosed by the US government. Previously, the administration allowed companies to sell the most powerful encryption technology to specific industries overseas. Other customers were limited to 56-bit encryption products.
GREENSPAN GIVES NET NOD: Using phrases like "profoundly different" and "awesome", the US Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Alan Greenspan, endorsed the Internet economy in a keynote address to the Economic Club of New York last week.
EXTENDING OPPORTUNITY: With demand for IT staff showing no sign of decreasing, Enterprise Ireland has confirmed that the Opportunity Ireland (www.opportunity-ireland.com) programme will run for another year. It is an initiative to attract software and electronics staff to return to Ireland.
VISA CARD BASE: CardBase Technologies and Visa International are to collaborate in developing advanced software to enable Visa member banks to issue multi-application chip cards which will support the Visa Cash electronic purse.
BETTER ONLINE: Almost 90 per cent of online Christmas shoppers experienced problems, but still rated the Web better than shops and catalogues, according to an Andersen Consulting (www.andersen.com) study carried out in the US. The main problems experienced were gifts being out of stock, failure to deliver on time and download difficulties.
IN BRIEF...Oracle has announced lower software and support prices for the Oracle8i database. . . BullSoft and Comnitel Technologies have announced a partnership agreement. . . Ward Consulting has achieved Premier Partner certification from Check Point Software Technologies. . . Programmable logic and related development systems company Xilinx has launched Spartan II, a programmable microchip pioneered by integrated circuit designers and software engineers in Ireland. . . MicroWarehouse has become an authorised direct partner for IBM Ireland. . .