Peter Mandelson, Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, speaking at the Microsoft and Computacenter link-up press launch (see separate story) continued the cozy relations with Microsoft Corp, which have been a feature of the new Labor government in the UK. He denied that Microsoft’s machinations in the corporate desktop market were monopolistic, describing Microsoft as a competitive spur to other IT companies. Mandelson, best known as the man behind the Millenium Dome being built in Greenwich, London, also talked up the value of e-commerce to the UK economy. In a soundbite typical of his brief appearance at the launch, he said that he wanted to see Britain globally recognized as the best place to trade electronically and cited a favorable regulatory system as a good reason to make the UK an e-commerce base. However, other than smiling upon the Computacenter/Microsoft deal, he gave no solid government commitment to electronic trading.
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