SEATTLE, Nov 15: Microsoft Corp chairman Bill Gates has lashed out at his critics, accusing them of creating a "witch-hunt atmosphere" and unfairly tarring the computer software giant.

At the company's annual shareholders meeting, Gates blamed a recent increase in what he called "anti-Microsoft activities" on an unprecedented, coordinated effort by its biggest industry rivals.

Gates referred to recent action against the company by the US justice department and pointed to a two-day conference on Microsoft convened in Washington on Thursday by consumer activist Ralph Nader, featuring some harshest critics.

"We do have some competitors who have chosen to fund these things and promote these activities in order to handicap Microsoft in the competitive market," Gates said.

He said the alignment of International Business Machinescorp. (IBM), Oracle Corp and Sun Microsystems Inc had created "a level of competition beyond what we've seen in the past."

While Gates limited his vitriol in the remarks to the friendly audience, the speech was part of a calculated effort by Microsoft to strike back against the rising chorus of critics from government and industry sources who challenge the company's business methods and ambitions.

This week, Microsoft's top in-house attorney held a news conference in Washington to discuss the company's formal response to justice department charges that it violated a 1995 antitrust consent decree.

Copyright © 1997 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.