At Oracle Corp’s Tokyo Network Computer launch (see Today’s News section), chief executive Larry Ellison laid into Microsoft Corp and Bill Gates unmercifully, growling that information and computers do not belong to one company and one person. One of his gripes about personal computers is that they depend on Microsoft’s Windows software. Windows belongs to one company and one person… but information never belongs to one country, one company, one person, Ellison said. He billed Network Computers as simple, inexpensive and easy for everyone to build, while personal computers were expensive and complex – one of his problems with Apple Computer Inc is that it has deserted the bargain basement.
