Bill Gates, Microsoft Chairman:
We hope that when the state attorney general fully reviewed the settlement, they will also agree that it’s the right way forward. Litigation is never a good thing for any industry or any company. We have said for some time that we would go the extra mile to resolve this case. That is exactly what we did in reaching this settlement.
The experience of the past the three years hs had a profound impact on me personally and on our company. We are in a fast-moving, competitive industry, but we will focus more on how our actions affect other companies.
John Ashcroft, U.S Attorney General:
Today we are announcing a strong, historical settlement reached by the Department of Justice and the Microsoft Corporation that will put an end to Microsoft’s unlawful conduct, bring effective relief to the marketplace, and ensure that consumers will have more choices in meeting their needs of computing and working with their computers. This settlement is the right result for consumers and for businesses, the right result for the economy, and the right result for government. It provides prompt, effective, certain relief for consumers and removes theuncertainty in the computer market, a critical factor in today’s economy.