Monday, July 2, 2001		Article

MICROSOFT Corp. Chairman and co-founder Bill Gates said that an appeals court decision that reversed an earlier order to break up the world's largest software company will allow it to move ahead with its plans for new products.

Gates, speaking at a press conference at the Redmond, Washington headquarters, said he was pleased with the decision, and said it opened the door to a possible settlement of the anti-trust case, which has dogged the company for four years.

"With this ruling, there is a new framework and so it would be a good time for all parties involved to sit down together and see what kind of resolution can be worked out," he said.

"I won't rate the chances of that in advance, but I'd say that the fact that this narrows the case quite a bit and some of the key principles laid out in the decision make me think that it's absolutely worth making an effort there," he added.

Gates, answering reporters’ questions about the effect of the decision on Microsoft's upcoming release of its new operating system Windows XP, said there was nothing to stop the company from releasing the software as planned.

"We are moving ahead with Windows XP as a product that has the features that consumers want," Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said. "There's nothing in today's ruling that changes our plan for our future products, including Windows XP."

Both Gates and Jeff Raikes, a top executive at Microsoft, said that the ruling was met with a sense of relief.

"I'm sure you'll understand, living in Seattle, the feeling of the sun breaking through the clouds," said Raikes, vice president of productivity and business services. "All of us here at Microsoft see this ruling as the sunshine we have been waiting for."

"It is an endorsement of the right to go forward with innovations that consumers want and the removal of the cloud of breakup," he said. — Reuters