Once again beating Wall Street expectations, last Thurday Microsoft posted a 26 percent revenue gain for the fourth quarter along with a 28 percent revenue gain for fiscal year 1998. The gains were accredited to, as always, strong sales of Windows and Office. Company revenues for the fiscal year rose to $14.48 billion, edging Microsoft past IBM to unofficially make it the world's largest software group. However, since Microsoft doesn't have any major new products shipping until NT 5 (now expected for next fall or later), next year's revenues will be much tighter. Reduced sales of stand-alone Excel, Powerpoint and Word will also affect the MSFT bottom line.

Microsoft jumped feet first into the burgeoning US housing market this week with the introduction of its HomeAdvisor real estate web site. The company plans to eventually offer a comprehensive site with "end-to-end" service, including basic information for first-time buyers, nationwide listings, demographic information and mortgage rate comparisons. The free site will, in theory, be supported by ad revenues and lead fees for mortgage originations.

A 23-year-old Illinois man was sentenced last week to nearly six years in prison for attempting to extort five million dollars from Bill Gates. Adam Quinn Pletcher of Long Grove wrote a series of letters demanding that the Microsoft chairman wire money to his Luxembourg bank account lest Gates, his family and a Microsoft executive be harmed. Judge Barbara Jacobs Rothstein ordered Pletcher to serve the 70-month minimum term, contribute $400 to a crime victims-assistance fund and spend three years on supervised release. Pletcher's attorney says that he would not appeal. Microsoft represenatives said Gates had no comment but appreciated the work of law-enforcement officials.

According to AdKnowledge, Microsoft's share of the browser market has now risen to 45.6 precent. Netscape's share of the market fell by nearly nine percent to 52.2. About half of IE's gain was at the expense of alternative web browsers like Opera and Mosaic.
The Justice Department and twenty US states that filed antitrust charges against Microsoft have dropped claims related to the marketing of Office and Outlook. This move was reportedly to "tighten" the complaint so state attorneys general can devote their full resources to preparing for trial over conduct relating to Microsoft Web browsers and operating systems.
Peter Neupert, a key member of Microsoft's new-media executive team, will leave the company to become CEO of an undisclosed start-up. Neupert, who helped develop key media units like MSNBC and Slate, will resign at the end of the month to join a "venture-capital partnership" the company said. A replacement has not yet been named.
Microsoft says that a patch for the SQL Server 6.5 database's scheduling engine will be released later this year. The product apparently doesn't recognize 2000 as a leap year.

_{PC vendors form group to loosen Wintel grip
Vendors Resist Microsoft's 3-D Graphics Plan
Windows 98 disables competitors' software
Windows 3.1 is early year-2000 casualty
Microsoft turns to port(als) in MSN push}