– Given Microsoft Corp’s claim that IE and Windows are not separate products, US Government lead attorney David Boies advanced the argument one step further. He asked Microsoft Corp key witness, economist and MIT professor Richard Schmalensee whether, if Microsoft were to combine Word with Windows so code was shared and couldn’t be untangled, Word would cease to exist as a separate product. No, said Schmalensee, although there may be benefits from the combination in terms of efficiencies of code re-use and disk space savings. Moreover even if Word were integrated into Windows if you could use other word processors without any degradation then there is no harm to users, he said. Boies pursued the inquiry, arguing that if users had no other word processing choice without experiencing degradation are they worse off? Schmalensee answered that if he was a WordPerfect user and wasn’t afforded the same convenience of WordPerfect on such a platform then that’s a harm. Microsoft argued all Boies did was to set up a false straw man.
– The US Government’s antitrust trial appears to be slowing down rather than speeding up as had been hoped with Microsoft Corp now presenting its case. The cross-examination of Microsoft’s key witness, MIT economics professor Richard Schmalensee by lead Government attorney David Boies – which for periods has dissolved into semantic disagreements over the meanings of words – won’t be wrapped up until Wednesday lunchtime at the earliest. Microsoft’s re-direct is expected to take up most of Thursday which means that Paul Maritz, Microsoft’s head of group platforms and initiatives, won’t take the stand until Monday.
– US Government lead attorney David Boies wouldn’t comment on whether the Justice Department has been holding settlement talks with Microsoft Corp while the antitrust case has been proceeding.
– Microsoft Corp complains that the Justice Department has still not given it any information on America Online Inc’s pending acquisition of Netscape Communications Corp even though Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson ruled last November that Microsoft should be given access to it.