Head of Microsoft's Windows Client Team Takes Stand

While Gates' testimony concluded yesterday, some of the questions states' attorney Kevin Hodges lobbed at Jones also centered on Windows XP Embedded, an operating system Microsoft said is designed for use in set-top boxes and other devices.

States' attorney Steve Kuney had already grilled Gates on the properties of XP Embedded earlier this week, including the apparent ability users have to add or remove features like Internet Explorer.

Thursday, Hodges also honed in on XP Embedded, positioned on Microsoft's own Web site as "the componentized version of the leading desktop operating system" (http://www.microsoft.com/windows/embedded/xp/).

The nine states still pressing the case--Iowa, Utah, Massachusetts, Connecticut, California, Kansas, Florida, Minnesota and West Virginia, plus the District of Columbia--want Microsoft to sell a stripped-down version of Windows. Consumers and OEMs, the states say, should be able to substitute the browsers, media applications and other software of their own choosing, rather than use Microsoft's default software.

Microsoft has maintained all along that removing elements from Windows would render the operating system unusable, as many features and functions in the software are dependent on others.

Hodges sought to show that Microsoft already offers a modular version of Windows. He displayed a screen shot from a Web site containing information about XP Embedded.

"Doesn't Microsoft advertise XP Embedded as a componentized version of the Windows XP Professional?" he asked Jones.

"The definition of 'componentized' can vary wildly," Jones replied. "I need more context" to be able to give a complete answer, he said.

Hodges and Jones sparred for several more minutes over the word 'componentized,' a term not even found in dictionaries. Jones maintained that removal of some components of Windows would jeopardize the performance of other components and of the operating system itself.

Since the trial began in March, Microsoft's legal team has complained to the court that the states' proposed remedy forces the company to hand over intellectual property it has generated over many years after investing billions in research.

On the theory that turnabout is fair play, Hodges displayed documents created by Jones that suggested Microsoft should "clone" Netscape Navigator, the then-dominant Web browser.

One of the documents shown was entitled "How to Get 30% Share in 12 Months," referring to Microsoft's goal in the 1998-1999 time frame of increasing the market share of its Internet Explorer browser.

Microsoft, the document read, "needs to get serious about cloning Netscape Navigator."

In a testy exchange, Hodges pressed Jones to define what he meant when he used the word "clone." Jones said it had to do with making sure Internet Explorer users had an experience interacting with Web content "comparable" to that of Navigator users.

Jones added that he understood the term to mean "emulate" or "mimic" behavior of Navigator.

"You're not advocating stealing intellectual property?" Hodges asked Jones.

"I've never advocated stealing intellectual property from another company, sir," retorted Jones.

Attorneys for Microsoft and the states called Richard Ulmer, vice president of Unisys' Pacific Development Laboratories, to the stand this afternoon.