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The threat to cancel Mac Office 97 is certainly the strongest...: How about these guys...Do they count too?

Meanwhile, trying to bolster allegations made by a senior Apple executive, the government yesterday showed videotaped testimony of Microsoft chief executive Bill Gates contradicting his own internal emails.

The deposition--in which a sometimes combative Gates claims he cannot recall key business events--is designed to reinforce explosive allegations made by Apple senior vice president Avadis Tevanian, who has accused the software giant of using strong-arm tactics to compete against rivals. Under oath, Gates denied using the popular Microsoft Office program as a way of pressuring Apple to support Microsoft strategies, even as Microsoft email seemed to indicate otherwise.

In the ninth day of trial, Justice Department (DOJ) lead prosecutor David Boies contrasted Gates denying any knowledge of crucial events--key among them negotiations between Microsoft and Apple--with emails that seemed to suggest otherwise.

"The threat to cancel Mac Office 97 is certainly the strongest bargaining point we have, as doing so will do a great deal of harm to Apple immediately," Microsoft manager Ben Waldman wrote in a June 27, 1997, email to Gates and other executives. "I also believe that Apple is taking this threat pretty seriously."

Four days earlier, Gates had sent an email to Bradford and others seeking ways "we can get them to embrace Internet explorer in some way."

Gates, who said he had no recollection of receiving the email, insisted there had never been a plan to leverage Office.

"Did someone tell you in or about June of 1997 that Apple was taking Microsoft's threat to cancel Mac Office 97 seriously or pretty seriously?" Boies asked.

Gates, who was seated in a leather chair with a tall backrest, replied that Paul Maritz, the vice president in charge of Microsoft products, had argued internally that the project wasn't worth the expense. "It's very possible Apple might have heard about Maritz's opinion there and therefore been worried," Gates said.

Boies rephrased the question three more times, clarifying that he was not interested in Maritz's position or what Apple may have known.

Gates again repeated his answer about Maritz's view being worrisome to Apple. "But I...don't remember...it being phrased at all the way you're phrasing it," Gates said.

"Well, the way I'm phrasing it is the way that Mr. Waldman phrased it to you in his email of June, 27, 1997," Boies shot back. "Correct, sir?"

"Well, in reading it, I see those words, yes," Gates answered, looking at a copy of the email in front of him.

The exhibits are designed not only to cast doubt on Gates's credibility, but to bolster Tevanian's claim that Microsoft used its software dominance to pressure Apple into endorsing Microsoft's Internet Explorer and to steer clear of technologies that were at odds with Microsoft strategy. Microsoft strongly denies Tevanian's account.

Axe, you're a tool.; Posted by: Spikey_Mike Posted on: 08/08/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use