Microsoft loses bid for SPA board seat

[Gene Gaines <ggaines@generation.net>]

>From ZDNet at http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/news/0427/28mspa.html


"Microsoft loses bid for SPA board seat

   By Mary Jo Foley, Sm@rtReseller
   04.28.98 1:06 pm ET 

   Don't expect the Software Publishers
   Association to rein in its campaign against
   Microsoft Corp. anytime soon.

Microsoft, the SPA's largest dues-paying member, had hoped to win
one of the six two-year SPA board seats up for election. But the results
are in, and Microsoft Executive Vice President and Chief Operating
Officer Bob Herbold is not among today's victors.

>From 1986 until 1997, Microsoft held a seat on the SPA board every
year, said SPA President Ken Wasch, who said that the results of the
most recent election among the 11 candidates were "close." He declined
to elaborate.

During the past few months, the SPA has become an outspoken leader
among the forces advocating that federal and/or state officials take a
more active role in controlling the Redmond, Wash., software giant.

In January, the Washington-based SPA released a list of eight software
principles designed to guarantee free and fair competition. Many in the
industry said the principles were aimed directly at Microsoft and could
be viewed as proposed remedies to be adopted by the U.S. Department of 
Justice in the antitrust case it levied against Microsoft last fall.

More recently, the SPA joined a number of Microsoft competitors,
including Netscape Communications Corp., Sun Microsystems Inc. and
Oracle Corp., in forming the Project to Promote Competition and
Innovation in the Digital Age. ProComp is backing the SPA list of
principles and is advocating government intervention to foster free
competition in the electronic content and commerce arenas.

Re-elected to the SPA board for another term were Kathy Hurley, vice
president, The Learning Company School, and Cheryl Vedoe, president
and CEO, Tenth Planet Explorations. Elected to their first term were
Ron Verni, president, Peachtree Software; Ted Johnson, executive vice
president, Visio Corp.; Larry Gross, senior vice president, Cendant
Software; and Joel Ronning, president and CEO, Digital River, Inc.

The newly elected board members will join Graham Beachum, Jr.,
Axtive Software Corp.; John Laing, Wayfarer Communications;
Rebecca Ranninger, Symantec Corp,; Roberta Katz, Netscape; Steve
Solazzo, IBM; Mauro Ballabeni, MicroBusiness Italiana; and the SPA's
Wasch on the 1998/99 board.

..."