Silicon valley cheers ruling

PALO ALTO: Entrepreneurs, start-ups and high-technology veterans in Silicon valley cheered a Federal judge’s ruling yesterday that software juggernaut Microsoft Corp wields monopoly power and used it to cripple competing firms.

"It’s a big day for the whole industry," said James Barksdale, the former chief executive of Netscape Communications Corp, the pioneer of the web browser and one of Microsoft’s biggest internet rivals that was later bought by America Online Inc. Now that the US justice department and the 19 states that brought the epic antitrust case against the world’s most valuable company have won the first round in a long legal battle, employees of Silicon valley stalwarts such as Oracle Corp, Sun Microsystems Inc and companies throughout the United States not only feel vindicated, they’re elated.