LOL - Looks like Gates really impressed the court and Judge! Based on the videotape eveidence, its amazing this man can run a company - LOL!
Judge Laughs Over Gates'Testimony
Monday, 16 November, 4:55 p.m.
W A S H I N G T O N (AP)
MICROSOFT CHAIRMAN Bill Gates appeared so
uncooperative and forgetful in interviews with
government lawyers that the judge overseeing the
company's antitrust trial laughed and shook his head
while watching Monday.
As the trial entered its fifth week, the government
played another hour of videotape of its lawyers
questioning Gates over three days last summer.
The government used the video to introduce its fifth
witness, Glenn Weadock, a private computer
consultant paid $100 an hour by the Justice
Department. Microsoft lawyers quickly attacked his
qualifications, saying he's not a programmer and is
the only employee of his Colorado-based consulting
company.
Microsoft also pressed Weadock on his largely failed
efforts to remove Microsoft's Internet software,
called Internet Explorer, from its Windows 98
operating system.
The government alleges Microsoft illegally "tied" the
two products, in violation of U.S. antitrust laws;
Microsoft contends it "integrated" its browser for
consumer benefit, which is legal, and that the
products can't be separated.
"That's part of the problem for companies that don't
want Internet Explorer," Weadock argued. "That's
my point. Microsoft designed it that way."
In the video, government attorney David Boies asked
Gates about e-mail he wrote in January 1996 to top
executives saying: "Winning Internet browser share is
a very, very important goal for us."
At the time, Microsoft Corp. felt immense pressure
from rival Netscape Communications Corp., whose
own browser software was the industry leader.
A browser lets people view information on the
Internet.
In its antitrust case, the government alleges that
Microsoft illegally used its influence as the maker of
the dominant Windows operating system to extend
into other markets, such as for Internet browsers.
On the video shown Monday, Gates appeared to go
to great lengths to avoid directly naming Netscape as
his rival, although Netscape's share of the browser
market in early 1996 was more than 70 percent. At
one point, Gates denied understanding what the
government meant when asked about "non-Microsoft
browsers."
"You seem to be suggesting that just because share
involves comparing multiple companies, that when I
wrote that sentence I was talking about other
companies," Gates said. "... You keep trying to read
Netscape into that sentence, and I don't see how you
can do that."
Gates, whose personal worth of about $50 billion
makes him the world's wealthiest person, is not
among the 24 witnesses who will testify during the
trial. But under court rules, the government is allowed
to use his sworn testimony as evidence.
Microsoft complained that the government, which
promised to show roughly eight hours of the video
during the trial, was "trying to use Bill's celebrity
status to try to distract attention from all the holes in
their case."
"The government is trying to turn this case into
theater," spokesman Mark Murray said.
During another exchange over the same January
1996 e-mail, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield
Jackson seemed incredulous. Jackson ultimately will
decide the case because there is no jury.
The judge laughed and shook his head at the verbal
sparring as Boies asked Gates about the line,
"Winning Internet browser share is a very, very
important goal for us."
"I'm not getting your question," Gates said. "Are you
trying to ask what I was thinking when I wrote this
sentence?"
"Let me begin with that," Boies said. "What were you
thinking when you -"
"I don't remember specifically writing this sentence,"
Gates interrupted.
"Does that mean you can't answer what you were
thinking when you wrote that sentence?" Boies
asked.
"That's correct," Gates answered.
"So, since you don't have an answer to that question,
let me put a different question," Boies said.
"I have an answer. The answer is, I don't remember,"
Gates said.
"You don't remember what you meant," Boies said.
"Let me try to ask you - "
"I don't remember what I was thinking," Gates said.
"So, you don't remember what you were thinking
when you wrote it, and you don't remember what
you meant when you wrote it. Is that fair?" Boies
asked.
"As well as not remember writing it," Gates said.
After the hourlong excerpts played in court, the judge
asked Boies: "How long did that deposition take?"
Toy |
