WinInsider

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly repeatedly chided states' attorney Steven Kuney during his second morning of cross-examining Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. In response to repeated objections to the questioning by Microsoft lawyer Dan Webb, Kollar-Kotelly warned Kuney that he was being too argumentative and trying to get the witness to answer questions that introduced new evidence. "Whatever the lawyer said isn't evidence," the judge said at one point, referring to what she indicated was one of many leading and argumentative questions.

At one point, Kuney asked Gates if he knew of a situation in which Microsoft intentionally broke interoperability with Windows and other software for competitive reasons. Webb objected, and Kollar-Kotelly scolded Kuney for trying to get Gates to introduce new evidence through his answer.

But as on Monday, Gates' style and substance appeared to take the day. He continued to insist that the states' remedy is ambiguous and "impossible" for Microsoft to follow in its current form. At several points, Gates broke the courtroom into laughter as he drove home the point about the proposal's ambiguity.

For instance, when Kuney referred to the heading of a particular section, Gates drew laughther with his response that, given the proposal's ambiguity, "You should not think that a heading properly describes what comes after that heading."

One ambiguous area where Gates appeared to score points over Kuney related to section five of the proposed remedy, which has to do with giving third parties proper notification that changes to Windows would interfere with the performance of their products.