 | |
| |
TechnologyDaily Mobile
States Rethink Microsoft Battle
Some states that have new attorneys general are reevaluating their role in the Microsoft antitrust case currently under consideration in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Utah Attorney General Mark Shurtleff, a Republican who won his seat in November, said in an interview last week that his state will remain involved in the case "for the time being," but he added that several states are "wondering" about their roll. Shurtleff said he would make no judgments until the court delivers its decision in the appeal. "I was very concerned with Judge [Thomas Penfield] Jackson's decision," Shurtleff said, especially after the appeals court criticized Jackson's actions in the first round of the Microsoft trial.
Shurtleff told National Journal's Technology Daily in October that he thinks Microsoft can win its case and that he would pull Utah out of the case unless he is satisfied that Utah consumers are being harmed. "We're going to wait and see what the judge's ruling is ... then I'm going to have to decide if we're going to spend time and money on it," he said last week.
New Mexico Attorney General Patricia Madrid — a Democrat who inherited the case from then-Attorney General Tom Udall, now a Democrat in the House — said she, too, is "reevaluating" her position. At the National Association of Attorneys General conference in Washington last week, she said that when she returned to New Mexico, she would meet with her antitrust experts to consider the matter.
North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper, D, has been heavily lobbied by groups such as the Microsoft-friendly Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) to drop out of the suit, and he is said to be reconsidering his involvement. "It's very informal discussions we have with them," said Erick Gustafson, director of regulatory and technology policy at CSE. Gustafson added that CSE will sit down with Cooper in the next few weeks.
But Democratic Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, who is leading the states in their attack on Microsoft, said, "Clearly, the vast majority of states want to continue with it, if not all." He just said everyone is in limbo until the appeals court reaches a decision. "In antitrust terms, it's moving very quickly and we hope it continues to move fast."
Gustafson said he did not anticipate any movement on the states' part until maybe 10 to 15 days after the appeals-court decision. "I don't expect anyone would want to drop off the cliff" before that, he said.
But some observers said it is not atypical for new attorneys general to reevaluate the cases of their predecessors. The source said the real story might be states that are thinking about joining the suit. This insider said attorneys general in the midst of litigating the current Microsoft case met two to three times last week. One meeting was with AOL Time Warner representatives to talk about Microsoft's new HailStorm, an Internet service that aims to link Microsoft software and services with those of other companies.
But states in charge of the ongoing Microsoft antitrust case are mum about which states may be trying to join them. "There's always a little bit of interest of people maybe joining. There might be now," said Iowa's Miller. As for the potential of states dropping their involvement after the appeals-court decision, Miller said: "It's possible, but I wouldn't think so. Once you're in a case, you usually stay in it. If there's a good argument, you stay with it."
States Tackle Labor Issues
Although no one seems to know whether the economy has hit bottom, states are still trying to boost their high-tech workforces in an effort to stay on the cutting edge of technological advancements. President Bush's emphasis on education and the apparent dedication from Congress to boost educational efforts, particularly in the areas of math and science, appear to be giving states a boost in their efforts.
Marjorie Bynum, vice president for workforce development for the Information Technology Association of America, said states seem to be focusing more on students and teacher training. "Education in general is just a hot-button issue right now ... not just politically," Bynum said.
Bynum cited programs in states such as Omaha, Neb., California and Massachusetts that seek to connect information technology employees with teachers and administrators. "We've tried to identify what we're calling 'best practices' and what states are doing in the education areas ... to strengthen their IT partnerships," Bynum said.
Washington state's legislature is considering a bill that would give scholarships to future teachers in math, science, technology or bilingual education. Such teaching candidates could receive up to $4,000 for full- or part-time studies. Gov. Gary Locke, D, also has reserved certain money in his fiscal 2002 budget for such "high-demand" enrollments to entice teachers to study in those areas.
In Oregon, Democratic Gov. John Kitzhaber's budget calls for enhancing state college engineering programs and specifically for moving Oregon State University into the top 40 engineering schools. Industry has promised to match some of the money Kitzhaber is seeking.
Florida, meanwhile, recently launched its "high-tech employment center" on its myflorida.com Web site, where employers, employees, training providers and others can post and view resumes and search for jobs or workers with certain skills, among other things.
New York is following several routes to a stronger technology workforce, including providing money to retrain workers and trying to draw high-tech companies to the state by offering regional alliances with universities and pre-approved building sites. According to the New York Software Industry Association (NYSIA), there are more than 40,000 high-tech job openings in New York, while there are more than 13,000 high-tech companies like IBM, Corning and DoubleClick that are employing more than 328,000 people.
NYSIA President Bruce Bernstein said, "the presence of the financial services industry both benefits the tech industry and skews" the number of workers who actually take New York tech jobs. But he added that immigrants with technical skills are flooding the city, and the state universities have strong computer science programs. The Federal Reserve Bank also is looking to train underserved people in New York City for tech jobs within that realm "to bring the IT industry to underserved communities to address the high-tech worker shortage."
Although the process of overcoming the shortage may be slow, he said, it is steady. "It's been recognized. It's on the radar screen, People are working on it."
Leavitt Chooses Smart Sites
The Deseret News reports that Utah Republican Gov. Mike Leavitt on Tuesday selected the first eight rural "Smart Sites" in the state to serve as the first link to Silicon Valley as tech-based companies look to areas outside the Wasatch front for expansion. Leavitt chose counties to be part of his Silicon Valley Alliance, which is being funded through a $750,000 appropriation. The state hopes to get matching funds from other government agencies and industry.
Leavitt is marketing Utah as a place for Silicon Valley companies to expand from their California base to the Smart Sites as places for testing software, establishing technical call centers, managing databases and entering data, and developing Web sites.
- by Liza Porteus
NEW FEATURE
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
-Advertisement-
