WILL GATES GET THE NET?

MICROSOFT'S CHAIRMAN SAYS IT IS A MAKE-OR-BREAK BUSINESS FOR HIM, BUT THE INTERNET'S USERS MAY RESIST HIS LONG REACH

It has all the makings of a classic power grab. Bill Gates, the richest man in America and chairman of the world's largest PC software company, announces that his next business target is the Internet, the world's biggest-and most chaotic-computer network. The move instantly becomes topic No. 1 in boardrooms and on electronic bulletin boards around the world. The assumption is that Gates, whose software runs 9 out of 10 personal computers, will do to the Internet what he did to the PC industry: seize control of key chokepoints and leverage his advantage to extend Microsoft's domination.

Gates' strategy-as laid out...

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