Microsoft, IBM Set Standards Pact
Thursday September 18, 1:06 am ET
Microsoft Corp. (NasdaqNM:MSFT - News) Chairman Bill Gates made a rare appearance with an executive of International Business Machines Corp. (NYSE:IBM - News) as the two technology companies said they had agreed on industry standards for an important new area of computing, Thursday's Wall Street Journal reported.
The agreement involves Web services, a type of software that many computer experts believe will usher in a new era of secure but simple interconnections among computer systems at different companies.
At the event, in a New York hotel, Mr. Gates and IBM's software chief, Steve Mills, said the two companies had developed ways to let companies do business with each other over the Internet without having to write new software programs for each new customer or supplier.
They said they will allow other companies to use these standards royalty-free in the hope that that will boost customers' willingness to buy more computer equipment and software.
The joint appearance marked the first time top executives of Microsoft and IBM had appeared on the same stage since a famous falling-out in the early 1990s.
Wall Street Journal Staff Reporter William M. Bulkeley contributed to this report.
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