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To: HIA who wrote (9261)	12/30/1998 4:51:00 PM
From: alydar	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 19080

Some of you might find this entertaining. Intuit chief's testimony irks Microsoft By Tim Clark Staff Writer, CNET News.com December 30, 1998, 1:00 p.m. PT Microsoft must be controlled to guarantee it does not use its dominant Windows operating system to exclude or discriminate against software applications or Internet content, Intuit chief executive William Harris is slated to testify next week. Harris's testimony, parts of which have been leaked in recent weeks, also provides new details of Intuit's thinking when it agreed in late 1994 to be acquired by Microsoft, a deal scuttled after the federal government questioned it. Harris's comments are being released today in advance of his testimony on Monday at then Microsoft antitrust trial in Washington, D.C. They are scheduled to be posted at 1 p.m. PT today on the Justice Department's Web site and on Intuit's. In a written response yesterday, Microsoft said the call for "operating system neutrality," Harris's term for his proposed remedy from the antitrust trial, was "an entirely new and irrelevant concept Mr. Harris cooked up on his own." Microsoft, which routinely rebuts written testimony after it is released, jumped the gun with yesterday's rebuttal because of widespread leaks about Harris's testimony. Microsoft attorneys are slated to cross-examine Harris Monday. Yesterday, Microsoft's rebuttal called his testimony "rife with rank speculations, hypothetical situations, and attempts at complex legal, technical, and economic analysis by a witness who is neither an attorney, a software developer, nor an economist." Harris argues that Windows' dominance in PC operating systems means "the drive for profit has no natural regulator," according to a summary released by Intuit of Harris's 50 pages testimony, referring to Microsoft's 49 percent profit margins. "As a businessperson, I find it hard to explain such abnormally high profitability, except in a market substantially insulated from effective competition," Harris testifies. Intuit's summary of its CEO's testimony avoids the word "regulate," but Harris's call for "operating system neutrality" in essence urges that Windows be controlled like a public utility similar to a power or cable TV company. The testimony of Harris, like that of Netscape CEO James Barksdale earlier in the trialclosely parallels the government's case against Microsoft. Microsoft's rebuttal is similar, too: "Mr. Harris' suggestion that Intuit is somehow being harmed by Microsoft does not hold up to scrutiny…Intuit seems to be trying to use the government and the courts to tip the scales against Microsoft." Microsoft said the Harris testimony "further demonstrates that the government's case is without merit, and has degenerated to a state where any competitor with a business grudge can come to Washington and use the [Justice Department] as a weapon." Related news stories • DOJ: Microsoft may have withheld evidence December 23, 1998 • The masses weigh in on Microsoft trial December 18, 1998 • Judge: AOL-Netscape deal could affect trial December 16, 1998 • Customers don't want IE bundled, exec says December 16, 1998 • Intuit testimony backs case against Microsoft December 16, 1998