Gates puts on new face for testimony
C|Net | at | by Mike
Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates redeemed himself as a witness on Monday, repeatedly rebuffing attacks made by states' attorney Steven Kuney in the latest phase of the 4-year-old antitrust case. Gates took the offensive during the first major round of cross-examination, interrupting Kuney with technical corrections to questions and with explanations of e-mail evidence designed to catch the executive contradicting himself. Microsoft took great risk putting Gates on the witness stand, say legal experts.
Gates had attacked the remedy proposal's requirements regarding the level of disclosure on how Microsoft software works with other programs, saying that it looked like developers were supposed to disclose software details before they had even conceived of the software, and thus, that under the states' remedy, once Microsoft software developers thought of a new idea, they would already be in contempt of court.