(4/20/98)
CHICAGO (AP) -- The computer gremlins went after the big enchilada today: Microsoft chairman Bill Gates.
Gates, the featured speaker at the opening of the Comdex Spring Computer Show, was demonstrating the new Windows 98 operating system set to debut in June when the system crashed.
``I guess we still have some bugs to work out,'' he noted ruefully. ``That must be why we're not shipping Windows 98 yet.''
The system collapsed when a Microsoft employee attempted to plug in a scanner, with his boss standing alongside. Gates was forced to move to another computer to complete his demonstration.
Gates did not comment during in the Justice Department's antitrust case against Microsoft.
The government sued Microsoft last year, alleging that it uses its dominance with the Windows 95 software to unfairly gain market share for its Internet Explorer over competitor Netscape Communications Corp.
Antitrust laws forbid monopolies from tying two products together to force a customer to take one when buying the other. Microsoft contends this rule shouldn't apply because its operating system and its browser are a single product.
Windows 98 will create an even tighter bond between operating system and browser, making it even more difficult for competitors.
During his convention speech, Gates demonstrated how the Windows operating system makes it easier for private consumers and businesses to use their computers.
He mentioned advances in the industry that allow computers to move faster and use a variety of external devices, for which the Windows system is key.
``Providing Windows is the platform for all of these advances to build on,'' he said. ``This way, computers will not work properly well into the 21st century.''
He said Windows 98 will be far simpler to use than the popular Windows 95 version, which has 150 million copies in use.