Craig Mundie

As Bill Gates begins the two-year process of cleaning out his desk at Microsoft Corp., the two men named to succeed him bring decidedly different experiences and personalities to the top technical jobs at the world's most powerful software company. The question: Whether Craig Mundie and Ray Ozzie can reshape computing the way Gates did.

As Bill Gates begins the two-year process of cleaning out his desk at Microsoft Corp., the two men named to succeed him bring decidedly different experiences and personalities to the top technical jobs at the world's most powerful software company. The question: Whether Craig Mundie and Ray Ozzie can reshape computing the way Gates did.

Microsoft Corp. Chief Technology Officer Craig Mundie said making consumer and corporate data completely secure as they pass over computer networks will take a decade or more and will require stepped-up efforts from software writers.

In an effort to broaden its market share, the software giant has unveiled a system designed to run a new type of voice-activated computer for automobiles. Dubbed the Auto PC, the device is a microcomputer that runs on Microsoft's Windows CE operating system.

Microsoft Corp. won a major endorsement of its approach to interactive television Thursday when cable giant Tele-Communications Inc. announced that it has chosen the software firm's system for field tests beginning later this year. The two companies said they hope to have a fully functioning commercial system running by 1996. The announcement came just a week after the planned merger of TCI and Bell Atlantic Corp.

Microsoft Corp. executives ruled out an acquisition of Yahoo Inc. on Thursday, even as they acknowledged that the Internet company would have provided a needed boost in online search, where the software giant trails leader Google Inc. Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell told Microsoft investors assembled for an annual day of presentations that the odds of a takeover were "so small as to be essentially negligible," because the two sides continue to disagree about how much Yahoo is worth.

Microsoft Corp. unveiled a computer program code-named Tiger on Tuesday, calling it the first major element in its strategic thrust into the emerging world of interactive television. Tiger, which relies on low-cost personal computer hardware to deliver audio and video information, will compete with more expensive offerings by companies such as IBM and Oracle, whose software depends on larger and costlier computers. Microsoft's goal is to become a dominant supplier of software for video servers.

After years of development, the federal government is finally prepared to approve standards for high-definition television to bring movie-quality images into Americans' living rooms by 1998. The Federal Communications Commission is expected to act this week so that TV stations can use the same set of high-tech specifications to deliver crisp, digital TV signals, CD-quality sound and even sharper pictures.

The $500 personal computer for surfing the Internet moved another step closer toward reality on Monday, but it did so without the blessing of the PC industry's two most influential companies: software powerhouse Microsoft Corp. and chip giant Intel Corp. International Business Machines Corp., Apple Computer Inc., database software maker Oracle Corp., Internet software designer Netscape Communications Corp. and workstation manufacturer Sun Microsystems Inc.

In the pitched battle that's now being waged over Internet software standards, fledgling Netscape Communications is more than holding its own against giant Microsoft Corp.--at least so far.

Eddie Fritts looked out at thousands of broadcast executives and heralded "the birth of the digital era." He looked like he really wanted to believe it. "After years of talking and planning, digital is really here," Fritts, president and chief executive of the National Assn. of Broadcasters, said in a slick speech delivered in top TV broadcaster form at the trade group's annual conference here last week.