Gates invests a byte of money for cache of Hollywood stars; Microsoft sees DreamWorks as ally providing access to family-fun products

Article Abstract:

Microsoft and DreamWorks SKG are planning a joint venture that would result in interactive and multimedia entertainment products. Perhaps the most powerful marriage of entertainment and high-technology, the DreamWorks/Microsoft venture expects revenue from products could reach several hundred million dollars in three to five years. DreamWorks SKG is the entertainment company formed by Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. DreamWorks Interactive, the new venture, will target CD-ROM adventure games, interactive stories and other family-oriented multimedia software in the beginning. The company plans to base its software on the television and motion picture concepts produced by DreamWorks, as many as 12 titles per year. The terms of the agreement call for DreamWorks and Microsoft to invest $15 million each to handle initial funding. Initial funding will cover the first employees, a planned 75 by the end of the year. The venture hopes to have its first products on the market sometime in 1996.

Packaged Software, Product development, Joint ventures, Computer games, Computer adventure games, Multimedia systems, Company joint venture, Adventure game, Dreamworks SKG, Multimedia Technology, Electronic Arts Inc. Electronic Arts Los Angeles

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Microsoft to unveil Internet products; licensing pact with Sun Microsystems may be announced

Article Abstract:

Microsoft's Bill Gates will announce on Dec 07, 1995 a new direction for the company's Internet products and services strategy, a move that indicates that the software behemoth's dominance of the PC's operating standards may be waning. The Internet is quickly becoming an important arena in the computer industry. Users access the Internet by using browser applications from companies such as Microsoft and Netscape Communications, but these browsers do not depend upon a specific platform. This lack of dependency on a platform could undermine Microsoft because users and developers will not longer be required to use Microsoft controlled operating systems such as Windows 95. Also, many other companies are moving ahead without Microsoft, centering their licensing deals around Netscape and Sun Microsystem's Java programming language. Gates will announce that Microsoft will go along with rest of the industry and not try impose its technologies on the Internet.

Telegraph & other communications, Specialized Telecom Services, Wired Telecommunications Carriers, Communications Software Pkgs (Micro), Product information, Internet, Internet services, Company product planning

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Software moguls suddenly compete to be nice guys; Oracle pledges $100 million to schools after Gates gift; don't ask who was first

Article Abstract:

Microsoft's Bill Gates and Oracle's Lawrence Ellison are competing for the attention of schools and libraries across America. Gates has pledged $2 million of his own money, as well as $2 million dollars worth of Microsoft equipment to public libraries to ensure that the facilities have computers and Internet access. The day after Gates gave the libraries the good news, Ellison announced his company would spend $100 million helping schools place network computers on the desk of every child. One reason the corporations are donating such large sums of money is that there is a dearth of skilled employees, and the companies see this as away to provide educational tools to the underprivileged. Also, people will become familiar with the companies' products, which will result in immediate profits for the companies.

Computer Software, Software Publishers, Software, Gates, Bill, Oracle Corp., ORCL, Public relations, Ellison, Larry, Company public relations, Computer Education

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