June 11, 2000

Interview with Microsoft chief exec Steven A Ballmer, who was in Europe meeting with customers, when Federal Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson issued antitrust ruling against company; Ballmer reports support for company among European customers who want Microsoft's integrated products and foresees no let up in pace of deals; remains upbeat and intends to focus on next-generation products while appeals process goes forward; photos (M)

New Jersey Devils win Stanley Cup; defeat Dallas Stars, 2-1, to win series, 4-2; photo (M)

Stephen Viederman, who until recently oversaw $90 million endowment of Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, urges charities to align their investments with their social aims; insists foundations have responsibility to consider the 'social and environment consequences of their investments'; cites Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations' investments in Philip Morris bonds, despite stated aim of 'helping to improve people's lives though health and learning'; finds most foundations, liberal or conservative, seem to believe that maximizing investment returns to fund's charitable mission is their sole responsibility and do not engage much in shareholder activism; photos (L)

An irony in light of antitrust verdict against Microsoft is that a major legacy of Clinton administration will be that it encouraged one of greatest periods of industrial concentration in US history; demands of efficiency appear to bar turning the clock back to a time when small was beautiful; hardly a week goes by that Federal Trade Commission is not called on to review a major merger; more than 95 percent of cases reviewed meet no resistance from antitrust regulators, who are less concerned about concentration, per se, than preventing just one or two players from dominating a market (M)

Felicia Lee Coping column on Sidiki Conde, professional dancer and athlete who walks on his hands, lives five flights up in East Village apartment and whose wheelchair was mistakenly thrown away when building's lobby was cleaned; drawing (M)