On The Defensive

That's why CRN dispatched two of its most senior journalists, Industry Editor Craig Zarley and Senior Writer Paula Rooney, to chronicle the testimony of two of the most influential executives in not only the world of technology but the world of business, to boot. Their impressions are on page 3.

By all accounts, Microsoft Chairman and Chief Software Architect Bill Gates acquitted himself admirably under three intense days of questioning. His appearance in Washington went a long way toward erasing the infamous videotaped deposition used in the first phase of the trial. Still, the attorney representing the nine states seeking tougher antitrust penalties against Microsoft made the following important point: There are precedents for distributing the Windows operating system in a modular format that don't require the entanglements of total integration.

Does anyone else find it difficult to square Microsoft's interest in Web services, a field that by its very nature stresses the power of mixing and matching best-of-breed applications from all over creation, with its policy of integrating more and more stuff into Windows?

Meanwhile, Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina was clearly frustrated with her task in Delaware Chancery Court, quibbling over the fundamental differences between financial forecasts and financial planning documents, and the proper time to disclose information to the outside world. Isn't this the same executive who, during her early days at HP, made all sorts of aggressive growth promises,publicly,to please shareholders?

Personally speaking, I'm conflict-adverse, so I feel a pang of sympathy for anyone being skewered on the witness stand. But, after all, these are the same executives who have preached to the world about how important technology and innovation are to the future of U.S. business. And neither are above strong-arm tactics of their own: Fiorina has fired employees discovered to be leaking details of the merger saga, and Microsoft has stepped up its harassment of solution providers who talk too much to the press. It's about time we stopped taking everything they say at face value and asked more tough questions of our own.

HEATHER CLANCY, Editor/Strategy at CRN, welcomes your comments at [email protected].