This was an extremely difficult decision, but necessary in light of the very challenging telecom environment and our need to operate as cost-effectively as possible.

This decision is about as strong as it gets and confirms all of our concerns about the dunes environment.

We are gratified that the quarter's results confirm that consumer demand remains strong for Microsoft products...but it is critical to note that our growth has slowed for each of the last four quarters and we are likely to experience slower growth for the balance of calendar 1998.

My resignation from Oracle is not a reflection on the company, its executives or employees.

We are very happy with that and customers seem to be very interested with what we are doing there.

Microsoft has had success on the appellate level, Jackson has had less success. If the case goes to the liability phase, we're likely to go through the appeals process, which is going to be lengthy.