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Microsoft bigwig slams Oracle and Sun

Charles Cooper, CNET.com ZDNet.co.uk

Published: 13 Oct 2000 14:59 BST

Another day, another volley in the verbal feud between Microsoft and rivals Sun Microsystems and Oracle.

The head of Microsoft's operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, expressing frustration with what he described as a verbal and legal offensive orchestrated by the company's chief rivals, did not mince words.

"I really have no respect for these people, though I respect their products," Bernard Vergnes said in an interview. "They criticise Microsoft in very devious ways with customers and the authorities."

Vergnes said that any company would find it easy to take advantage of the thicket of European regulatory rules that govern competition, suggesting that Sun and Oracle were behind investigations in Microsoft's business.

That's been a common refrain of Microsoft's management since the beginning of the company's antitrust problems with the United States Department of Justice. Clearly, there is bad blood between these titans of the software industry -- and, according to Vergnes, it's now reaching over to the other side of the Atlantic.

"It's not a sane business environment when you decide that your primary competitive tool is lawyers," Vergnes said. "They're spending time and money to badmouth Microsoft. It's a funny way of competing."

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