Microsoft Antitrust Trial: States' New Witness Could Testify Monday

Microsoft

James Bach, who runs a software testing consulting firm called Satisfice in Front Royal, Va., will be questioned by attorneys for Microsoft and nine states that want tougher sanctions against Microsoft for its anticompetitive behavior.

A spokeswoman for Bach said he could testify as early as Monday and as late as Wednesday, May 15. She said Bach has been forbidden from discussing the case with reporters until the judge makes her ruling.

The states' legal team said Bach has tweaked Microsoft's Windows XP Embedded operating system for use on a PC, something Microsoft's licensing rules prohibit. The company markets this version of the operating system for use in set-top boxes, ATM machines and other devices.

The states hope Bach's efforts will prove that Microsoft can offer a modular version of Windows, something the company said would be too complex technically to deliver and too costly to support.

Bach, who worked at Apple Computer, Borland International and other IT companies, founded Satisfice in 1999.