Written testimony denies Apple charges

Next up in the Microsoft antitrust trial: Eric Engstrom, the general manager of Microsoft's multimedia group, whose written testimony was released Thursday in anticipation of his cross-examination next week. Engstrom says that, contrary to testimony from Apple executive Avie Tevanian, Microsoft never threatened QuickTime, Apple's multimedia software that runs on both Windows and the Mac. Engstrom's most telling comment is that Tevanian was only present at one meeting between the multimedia groups from Apple and Microsoft and would therefore have little knowledge of what occurred.

"[Apple's] allegations are false and are predicated on a mischaracterization of proposals made by Microsoft to Apple," Engstrom says in his testimony. "[They are] a failure to acknowledge that exchanges of technical information to promote compatibility are beneficial to consumers and routine practice in the software industry."

Engstrom says that Microsoft actually tried to convince Apple to let it develop DirectX for the Macintosh, but was rebuffed.

"Microsoft did not tell Apple to 'kill' or abandon its QuickTime for Windows technology," he says