By John Oates, 14 October 1998 17:45
NEWS According to a leaked memo from Microsoft, Bill Gates sees UK handheld specialist Psion as its number one enemy. Psion's Epoc operating system (OS) is the main rival to Microsoft's Windows CE in the handheld market, and has been boosted by the creation of Symbian - a joint venture involving Psion, Ericsson, Motorola and Nokia. A spokesman for Psion said: "This is media hype. When Windows CE came out, everyone said Psion was dead. And Symbian doesn't spell the end of Microsoft. But it is very flattering." He added that Epoc is aimed at a specific market, unlike Windows CE which fills everything from games machines to in-car systems. Although Psion rivals Microsoft in certain markets, it is also a partner of the software giant. It licences certain aspects of Microsoft's OS to give its palmtops a Windows-like interface. In the 14-page memo, Gates made no reference to ongoing court action in the US. Instead, he talked about "megaservers" allowing people to access information from anywhere in the world - but this is a concept rather than a specific product at this stage. Gates also raised the possibility of a "Wintone" - a dial tone for computers, which would let two machines know they were ready to transmit or receive information.
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