Microsoft Exec Denies Sabotaging Apple
WASHINGTON — A Microsoft Corp. executive on Thursday disputed claims that the company tried to sabotage a popular Apple Computer Inc. product.
In 59 pages of written testimony, Eric Engstrom, Microsoft’s general manager of Internet access, said Microsoft never tried to undermine the performance of QuickTime for Windows, Apple’s popular multimedia software. Engstrom also said Microsoft never urged Apple to “knife the baby” and stop selling QuickTime, as was alleged by senior Apple executive Avadis Tevanian during his testimony earlier in the antitrust trial.
Tevanian testified in November that Microsoft designed parts of its Windows operating system to sabotage QuickTime by displaying error messages when someone tried to use the product.
Along with Web browsers, multimedia products such as QuickTime are seen by experts as highly strategic in an emerging Information Age.
The federal government, 19 states and the District of Columbia contend that Microsoft has used its dominant operating system to stifle competition in emerging software markets.
But Engstrom said in his written testimony that it was the failure of Apple’s software developers to write sound computer code that caused QuickTime’s alleged compatibility problems with Windows.
Meanwhile, documents introduced in court show that even top PC maker Compaq Computer Corp., which has a close working relationship with Microsoft, was worried by the software giant’s power.
Internal Compaq memos showed the frustration employees felt when they tried to deal with other software companies, such as Netscape Communications Corp. and Go Corp. In a Nov. 12, 1996, memo, Compaq employee Bob Friedman noted that Microsoft was unhappy that a Netscape icon appeared on the desktop screen of some Compaq personal computers. “Microsoft’s stance to date raises questions of improper use of a monopoly position,” Friedman wrote.
Also on Thursday, lead government attorney David Boies questioned Compaq executive John T. Rose about his meetings with Microsoft. Boies attempted to establish that Rose had worked closely with Microsoft in the weeks leading up to the trial.
Initially, Rose said he had not met or spoken with any Microsoft executives besides Paul Maritz, who had approached him about becoming a witness.
But Boies confronted Rose with an e-mail message in which Gates wrote, “I thanked Rose for all his trips to Seattle and his willingness to extract a lot of time for this lawsuit.”
Rose explained that he went to Microsoft’s Redmond, Wash., headquarters in 1998 to discuss Microsoft products as part of his job.
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Times wire services were used in compiling this report.
