ballmer at cebit on microsoft's behaviour:
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He told an audience of 2,500 guests that it had only recently become clear to Microsoft that as an industry leader it needed to behave differently.
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Microsoft chief appeals for trust
HANNOVER, Germany --Microsoft aspires to be a responsible industry leader, Chief Executive Steve Ballmer has told the opening of a technology show.
"I say to our people, we want to be a trustworthy Microsoft in a world of trustworthy computing," Ballmer said in a speech at the CeBIT technology trade show in the German city of Hannover.
However, Ballmer acknowledged that Microsoft "has no perfect track record" in the areas of trustworthiness.
The company has been embroiled in long-running legal action in the U.S. over its dominant Windows software.
Microsoft reached a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department in November after an appeals court in June upheld a lower court finding that Microsoft had used illegal tactics to maintain its Windows monopoly.
Ballmer's comments came after it emerged that Microsoft had offered to open up some information that the European Commission alleged it unfairly kept secret to make life tough for rivals.
He told an audience of 2,500 guests that it had only recently become clear to Microsoft that as an industry leader it needed to behave differently.
"We need to be a responsible leader for our industry. We have to be engaged with our industry. We have to be a respectful, open and appropriate competitor," Ballmer said.
"With governments we need to be much more involved and need to recognise that there are many more policy issues with our industry," he said.
Not only should Microsoft change its own behaviour, it should also help to make computing more secure and reliable, he added, addressing issues that have become even more pressing since the terror attacks in the U.S. on September 11.
Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/industry/03/12/cebit.ballmer/index.html