By John Oates, 12 July 2001 08:15
NEWS In response to US court rulings, Microsoft will give PC manufacturers more freedom to change the software they provide to users. The change comes into effect on 25 October with the release of Windows XP. For the first time manufacturers will be able to offer different internet browsers and even remove the icon for Internet Explorer from PCs. Striking a conciliatory tone, Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft, said in a statement: "We recognise that some provisions in our existing Windows licences have been ruled improper by the court... this announcement does not take the place of settlement discussion with the government parties or any future steps in the legal process. However, we wanted to take immediate steps in light of the court's ruling." Industry observers were less impressed, with most accusing Microsoft of ceding ground on a battle it has effectively won. An observer quoted in the Guardian said: "This is a death row conversion by Microsoft in an effort to derail more serious discussions." In separate news, the FT reports that the Redmond giant has predicted it will beat earnings expectations on stronger than expected sales for the quarter. Microsoft said it will now report revenues between $6.5bn and $6.6bn - higher than the $6.3bn to $6.5bn originally predicted. The company's shares rose over nine per cent on the news.
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