U.S. Attacks a Microsoft Videotape as Misleading nytimes.com
Meanwhile, as promised, the NYT's somewhat ironic take on the matter.
In one of the most sensational moments since the Microsoft antitrust trial began, the government accused a senior Microsoft executive in federal court on Tuesday of offering a misleading videotape into evidence and using it to try to discredit an important government witness.
Initially, James Allchin, the Microsoft executive, was embarrassed and said that his staff had made an error.
"Mr. Allchin," said the government lawyer, David Boies, "you do understand that you came in here and you swore this was accurate?"
Allchin replied, "What I'm seeing here is that they filmed the wrong system."
Later in the day, Microsoft said it had actually shown the correct videotape; it said an unexplained problem with the computer used in the taped demonstration had created a mistaken impression.
"Microsoft's demonstration was completely accurate," a company spokesman, Mark Murray, asserted on the courthouse steps at the end of the day.
In any case, Boies, the Justice Department lawyer, said the episode raised questions about Microsoft's credibility. "The court has to evaluate the credibility of the witness," he said.
Then we have the attorney of record's view:
When the testimony had ended Tuesday, William Neukom, the Microsoft senior vice president for law and corporate affairs, said: "This is a tiny, tiny part of a very long tape. And it doesn't stand for anything more than the fact that things can happen with software."
Just like all that email, and Bill Gates' videotape. I mean, if you looked at Bill's deposition as a whole, and not just the parts played in court, you'd see how much more he can't recall than what's come up already.
In all, Boies spent less than one full day cross-examining Allchin, who is in charge of the Microsoft division that manages the Windows operating system. And he barely referred to Allchin's exhaustive, direct testimony.
That led Murray of Microsoft to declare that Allchin's "150-page testimony has now gone into the record virtually untouched." He added, "The government is working very hard to create a mood in the courtroom while we are trying to create a legal record."
But Boies said he was not concerned about that. "One of the reasons we go into issues of credibility of witnesses is so the judge has a chance to decide who to believe," he added. "All of this is a question of credibility."
With so much of the record in this trial the subject of polar interpretations by the opposing sides, government officials say, the judge's perception of each side's credibility could prove critical.
Poor Allchin, too bad it wasn't Paul "Air Supply" Maritz taking the hit here. Or the greater Bill himself, legendary hands on manager. I guess Gates was too obsessed with reaming poor Slivka while all this was going on to keep up on things. |
