The Buzz: June 11, 2001

.Net Meets Real World; Back to School for the FCC

CORPORATE PARTNERS
.Net Meets Real World

Microsoft chairman and chief software Architect Bill Gates (above) met with eWeeks Corporate Partners last week at the company campus in Redmond, Wash. Gates and the Corporate Partners discussed Microsofts .Net initiative, XML Web services and their business potential. The CPs also met with product managers for Windows XP, Windows servers, Office XP, SharePoint Portal Server and a number of other enterprise apps. "It was an opportunity for the Corporate Partners to get info from the source and to in turn provide the real-world perspective and contextual experience Microsoft and other vendors need to hear," said Herb Bethoney, eWeek Corporate Partner Director.

TELECOM
Back to School for the FCC

Federal Communications Commission Chairman Michael Powell is gearing up his agency to handle the growing complexity of telecommunications networks.

To create a more technologically adept agency, Powell plans to recruit scientists, professors and technicians to develop what he called an "FCC University," the heart of which will be a curriculum designed to educate not only engineers but also economists, lawyers and other agency personnel.

"Employees are going to be graded on their commitment to technological development," Powell said at SuperComm last week.