Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates Denies Knowledge of Key Internal Documents Implicating Him in Antitrust Scandal

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates repeatedly denied knowing of key internal documents that implicated him in the company's bid to use its Windows monopoly to divide markets and crush competitors. The testimonial exchange between Gates and Justice Department lead prosecutor David Boies highlighted Gates' memory lapses and vague replies in his 20-hour deposition, contrasting with sharply worded directives to key executives to do whatever it took to make Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser dominate personal computer desktops.

Key Takeaways:

• Bill Gates repeatedly denied knowing of key internal documents that implicated him in Microsoft's bid to use its Windows monopoly to divide markets and crush competitors.
• Prosecutors sought to use the Gates testimony to buttress charges by their next live witness, Apple senior Vice President Avieadis Tevanian, who has accused Microsoft of using its dominance in computer applications and operating systems to force Apple to dance to Microsoft's tune.
• Gates was shown to be argumentative and frequently forgetful in his testimony, often hesitating and scratching the back of his head before giving a snappish reply.
• Prosecutors cited internal memos and e-mails in which Gates allegedly ordered his executive staff to do whatever it took to prevent Apple and Sun Microsystems from aligning and to keep Apple and Sun split.
• Gates denied conveying these directives to his executive staff, claiming he didn't recall such conversations.
• Prosecutors also mentioned threats to cancel the updated version of Microsoft's Office business software for Macintosh computers unless Apple toed the line, with one Microsoft executive writing that "doing so will do a great deal of harm to Apple immediately."

Statistics:

• 20 hours: The length of Bill Gates' deposition that was used as evidence in the antitrust case.
• 10-foot courtroom screen: The size of the screen used to play the excerpt of Gates' videotaped deposition.
• 1997: The year in which Gates allegedly ordered Microsoft executives to do whatever it took to prevent Apple and Sun Microsystems from aligning.
• 60 billion: The personal fortune of Bill Gates at the time of the trial.
• 2: The number of witnesses called to testify in the antitrust trial so far, including AOL Inc. and Netscape Communications Corp. officials.

Sources:

• "Microsoft Chairman Gates Denies Knowing of Key Internal Documents" by Tom Squitieri, provided to AP by the Washington Post.
• Quotations from the videotaped testimony, transcripts of which were obtained by AP.
• Records of the antitrust trial in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.
• Document captions and article footnotes.