Slick, Bill and the Bull - all are facing acid test.
All three have shown remarkable ability to dodge the bullets.
Who will be the first casualty?
Microsoft Executive Asked: Does Truth Matter?
By David Lawsky
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A
government lawyer, in one of the
most dramatic moments of the
Microsoft antitrust trial, asked company executive James Allchin
Tuesday if he understood that it mattered whether he told the truth
under oath.
The issue arose after the government raised questions about the
veracity of a Microsoft Corp. videotaped demonstration that
seemed to show problems with a government-modified version of
Windows 98.
On the tape, a Microsoft narrator described a "performance
degradation" in the government version, and showed a long delay
in seeking a Web site.
But government lawyer David Boies examined the tape closely
with the witness to show that what was on the screen was not the
government-modified version at all.
Instead, Boies said, it was the unmodified Microsoft version that
showed the "performance degradation." Hours later Allchin
disputed the Boies assertion, but not then.
"This video that you brought in to the court and you vouched for
and testified how much you checked ... That's just wrong, isn't it?"
asked Boies.
After some further exchange, Allchin -- a senior vice president and
technology specialist at Microsoft -- acknowledged that his
assistants may have made a mistake in preparing the tape. But he
said that the inaccuracy did not matter.
"I didn't worry" about some of the inconsistencies on the tape, said
Allchin, noting that he had run similar tests himself and found
problems. "The truth is that those problems exist."
At that, Boies stopped cold. He looked at Allchin and asked: "Mr.
Allchin, you do understand that you came in here and you swore
this was accurate?"
Said Allchin: "To the best of my ability."
Boies continued: "You know it does matter whether what you said
is right or wrong -- you know that matters, don't you?"
District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson listened to the exchange
without giving any indication of what he thought. Jackson, who is
the "finder of fact," will have to decide at the trial's end which
witnesses he believes and which he does not.
That judgement will help him decide which evidence to rely upon in
making his decision on allegations by the Justice Department and
19 states that Microsoft used monopoly power to illegally preserve
that power and extend it to other areas of business.
The government charges that Microsoft integrated its Internet
Explorer Web browser into Windows 98 in order to compete
unfairly against a rival browser made by Netscape
Communications Corp.
At issue Tuesday was a Microsoft demonstration that was
supposed to show problems with a government effort to
disentangle Microsoft's Web browser from Windows 98. The
government tried to show the two programs were not as integrated
as Microsoft has claimed.
In the afternoon session, Allchin testified under questioning from a
Microsoft lawyer that during the lunch break he had his assistants
at Microsoft headquarters in Redmond, Wash., check the machine
shown in the video.
Allchin said his assistants found it to be a government-modified
version, as he had originally said.
Outside of court, a Microsoft official speculated the machine used
in the taped demonstration gave the appearance of being
non-government-modified because it was no longer "virgin."
Allchin had testified that the Microsoft tests were performed on
"virgin machines." At first Allchin testified that a machine was
"virgin" if it had nothing but Windows 98 loaded on to it. When it
turned out that some of the machines used for Microsoft's tests
had Microsoft Office loaded on them, or had changes in the
Windows "registry" -- which is critical to the control of the
machine -- Allchin said those, too, were "virgin."
Boies pounced.
"Didn't you just tell me within the last three minutes that when you
said 'virgin machine,' you meant a machine that had just Windows
98 on it and nothing else?" he asked.
"It's not something that makes a difference," Allchin said as Boies
pressed the point. "It's irrelevant."
Allchin later told the Microsoft lawyer that such changes were
"irrelevant" because they would make no difference in the tests.
But another Microsoft official said outside of court that they could
in fact have made a difference. |
