Microsoft Corp continued to hammer away at the browser issue in the antitrust case in Washington yesterday. Much of the subject matter of the evidence had already been touched on in previous testimony by Netscape Communications Corp CEO, Jim Barksdale. However, the defense team did add a new wrinkle with the introduction of technical evaluation documents of Microsoft’s and Netscape’s competing browsers – and their suitability for the company’s needs – submitted by America Online Inc staff before the fateful March 1996 deal. These documents were used by John Warden, Microsoft’s lead attorney, to bolster Microsoft claims that superior technology was what won the browser battle for Redmond – in particular, a comparison sheet between Internet Explorer and Netscape Navigator. Warden asked, doesn’t this show in every category…that Microsoft was the winner? Colburn said that the late delivery of Windows 3.1 and Macintosh versions of the browsers from Microsoft, not reflected in the check sheet, might taint the rest of the results. However, Warden asked whether, it was true that IE had won in every category. Colburn agreed, still maintaining that access to the Windows 95 desktop was decisive but saying that IE was the best solution for us, but we also felt the Netscape solution would have been just as good over time.
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