Novell Says Microsoft Undermines Server Software Market

Novell Chief Technology Officer Carl Ledbetter, in testimony in the ongoing Microsoft antitrust case, said that Microsoft withheld critical information that competitors needed to make their server software work well with Microsoft's Windows, which holds a monopoly position in personal computer operating systems.

Ledbetter told U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly that Microsoft had created more problems for competitors by modifying industry standards and designing its most recent server operating system to work well only with Windows.

The Novell executive was the eighth witness called by a group of nine states seeking stiffer sanctions against Microsoft for illegally maintaining its Windows monopoly.

"Microsoft has taken steps to degrade the performance of rival server operating systems," Ledbetter said in written testimony.

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During questioning, Microsoft attorney Michael Lacovara tried to raise doubts about Novell's motives, citing an e-mail in which Novell discusses using the antitrust case to pressure Microsoft into carrying some Novell software.

Microsoft has said throughout the four-year-old case that the government antitrust charges are being advanced on behalf of competitors like Novell.

Lacovara also queried Novell's assertion that it had serious problems getting its software to work with Windows, citing promotional material in which Novell boasts about how its products work universally with other software.

BAD BEHAVIOR

In his written testimony, Ledbetter said the proposed settlement of the case, reached in November between Microsoft and the U.S. Justice Department, was not sufficient to end the software giant's behavior.

Ledbetter said Microsoft does not disclose key software interface information that competing software developers need to achieve effective interoperability.

He said the settlement proposal fails to require timely disclosure of computer code and is subject to Microsoft's discretion. Nor did the settlement address Microsoft's adherence to industry standards, he said.

Ledbetter was critical of the settlement's enforcement provision saying there were no time constraints for handling disputes. "Time is of the essence in this industry."

The states' proposals were praised by Ledbetter for imposing clear obligations on Microsoft for disclosure of Windows computer code, for forcing disclosure of changes to industry standards, and for compelling Microsoft to inform network software vendors of interoperating interference problems.

The judge is still considering, in a separate proceeding, whether the Justice Department settlement is in the public interest.

Microsoft has argued the sanctions cannot go beyond specific wrongdoings upheld by a federal appeals court last year, mainly that Microsoft tried to crush Netscape's Internet browser in an illegal effort to preserve its Windows monopoly in personal computer operating systems.

But the nine states seeking stronger sanctions have argued for remedies that protect markets that have arisen since the trial began.

MORE INFORMATION REQUESTED

In a boost for the states, Kollar-Kotelly on Tuesday said she wanted more information on new computer technologies, such as handheld devices and interactive television, to determine whether sanctions against Microsoft should cover these items.

Microsoft's Lacovara showed the court a Dec. 7 e-mail in which Novell CEO Jack Messman asked Ledbetter if the company could use a piece of its software called eDirectory as a "Trojan Horse" by getting Microsoft to include it in its server software.

"After we get it in, we can then proliferate," Messman wrote.

Ledbetter replied that the antitrust case against Microsoft could pressure the company into carrying eDirectory, which is used to help identify and authenticate computer users.

The eDirectory software competes with a comparable Microsoft product called Active Directory.

Ledbetter acknowledged in court that he wrote the e-mail, but didn't comment any further on it.

The hearings on remedies, now in their second week, are expected to go into May.

Lacovara cited material from a Novell-sponsored conference earlier this month in which company employees conducted seminars on how to integrate the company's software with Windows.

Ledbetter conceded that there are "some ways to integrate" but insisted Novell customers still can't use all the functions in Windows because of interoperability problems.

"It certainly doesn't provide all the interoperability they would like," Ledbetter said.

+REUTERS

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