"Personal Web" vision depends on desktops as much as Internet devices

Personal computer vendors may be shying away from the PC moniker, but Microsoft isn_t. At his keynote address to open Comdex/Fall 99, Microsoft_s Bill Gates, focused heavily on the past and future PC hardware and software advances that he said will make possible "The Personal Web." GATES STARTED HIS KEYNOTE with a reference to the present,opening his one-and-a-half hour speech with "anybody here heard any good lawyer jokes recently?" - a comment which drew loud applause from the estimated 8,000 attendees at the Venetian Hotel. "All over America there are entrepreneurs working in their garages and lawyers working in their 20th floor offices, both doing what they do best," Gates added. Gates told attendees he appreciated the e-mails and letters that individuals have sent, following Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson_s harsh findings of fact against Microsoft in the Department of Justice vs. Microsoft antitrust case. He said that people have told him that what "Microsoft has done has benefited consumers" and "instead of doing less innovation in Windows, we should be doing more innovation.