Barksdale is the CEO of Netscape Communications, hired after his very successful tenure at Federal Express. Netscape is a member of the informal coalition trying to break Microsoft's hold on the software market at any cost. With good reason, as they have been the biggest victims of Microsoft's decision to give away Internet Explorer and bundle it with Windows. Before the rise of IE, Netscape Navigator was the undisputed king of the web browser. Now its lead is much more tenuous, prompting the recent corporate decision to give away the browser and all its source code. Barksdale was a friendly witness before the recent Senate hearings, where he reccomended that Microsoft be made to "play by different rules."

Microsoft's CEO and biggest investor, Gates's public persona has grown with his fortune, to the extent that he is now one of the most famous and recognizable people in the country. Although Microsoft has teams of lawyers working on this case, Gates is never too far removed from anything the company undertakes. Even his supporters admit that his ruthlessness and arrogance pervade almost every communication that comes from of the corporation. As such he has become a focal point of industry, government, and public opinion. This was demonstrated by the fervor generated by his recent appearance before a Senate Judiciary committee, as part of a hearing entitled "Market Power and Structural Change in the Software Industry."

Obviously, Gates believes that Microsoft should be allowed to pursue its business as it sees fit, unfettered by the government. "We must be allowed to continue to innovate" has been his constant refrain.

Hatch is a four-term Republican Senator from Utah and chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. In conjunction with the Department of Justice's ongoing investigation, Hatch recently called a hearing before his committee to discuss "Market Power and Structural Change in the Software Industry." The hearings featured testimony from Bill Gates, his enemies Scott McNealy and Jim Barksdale, as well as other software executives and venture capitalist Stewart Alsop. Absent from the proceedings was battered network software giant Novell, which is one of the largest employers in Hatch's home state. Novell is also solidly in the anti-Microsoft camp, as Windows NT has eroded much of its customer base in corporate networks. This fact has caused some to question the motives of Hatch's investigation.

Klein is the United States Assistant Attorney General for Antitrust, which means he is in charge of the government's legal efforts against Microsoft. Before the announcement of the current case, Klein was thought to be soft on big business and reluctant to pursue monopolies in court. This partly stemmed from his approval, as acting head of antitrust, of the mammoth aquisition of Nynex by Bell Atlantic, creating a new telephone monopoly on the East Coast. Klein was also thought to have discouraged earlier action against Microsoft when he was the second in command the previous year.

In December, Judge Thomas Jackson appointed this 36-year-old Harvard Law Professor to the position of "Special Master" for the ongoing dispute. Lessig was given the task of interpreting the issues raised and reporting back to the court in May. Lessig has a reputation as a brilliant and passionate legal scholar, although not neccessarily an antitrust specialist. He is, however, knowledgeable about personal computers and the industry. Microsoft felt that he was too cosy with their rival Netscape, and accused him of exhibiting "clear bias" based on certain emails exchanged between Lessig and executives at Netscape. A federal appeals court agreed, and halted Lessig's on February 2, pending further study by the court.

One of the founders of Sun Micosystems, and soon after, its CEO, McNealy has been an increasingly vocal opponent of Microsoft and its tactics in recent years. These years have seen the encroachment of powerful PCs running Windows into the high-end workstation market that Sun made its fortunes in. Now with Sun's development of Java, and its push for Network Computers, McNealy has gathered the support of much of Silicon Valley in his often evangelical war against Gates and Microsoft. McNealy and Sun would like nothing more than for Microsoft to be disciplined by the Department of Justice, and he made this clear in his recent testimony before the Senate. Any Microsoft weakness, real or perceived, strengthens the Sun vision of thin computers running platform-independent Java applications unconstrained by operating systems and Microsoft's often less-than-open standards.

Reback is a partner at the Silicon Valley law firm of Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich, and Rosati. Lately he has been acting on behalf of Netscape, and other clients, as a general anti-Microsoft warrior. Reback is credited with scuttling Microsoft's proposed aquisition of finance software company Intuit, and for convincing a federal judge to invalidate the 1995 consent decree. (This ruling was later overturned.)

Although some discredit him as a publicity hungry climber, Reback portrays himself simply as an evangelist for healthy markets. "I don't think it's good for one person or company to have that kind of power. It's almost religious with me. I think that there needs to be free and open competition, and I think it's important that people stand up for that concept."