Microsoft's Maritz takes the stand and faces DOJ

Microsoft VP Paul Maritz--who answers only to Bill Gates and Steve Ballmerat the software giant--took to the stand Monday to be cross-examined in thehistoric Microsoft antitrust trial. Maritz, who is widely recognized as theone senior official at Microsoft who won't go ballistic at the drop of ahat, answered questions about Microsoft's investment in Apple Computer. Thegovernment charges that Microsoft invested in Apple so that the computermaker would preload its Internet Explorer, rather than Netscape Navigator,on Macintosh computers. Maritz denied this, saying that Microsoft's primarygoal was to get Apple to drop a pending patent lawsuit.

"The subject of Internet Explorer was not raised in the negotiations that led to the August 1997 agreements until after the primary deal terms wereworked out," Maritz said.

"We were concerned about getting our [Web browser market] share up. Out ofnecessity it would have to come by persuading our customers to use our platforms as opposed to someone else's," Maritz granted. "I was aware thatNetscape was our principal competitor."

Government attorney David Boies then presented an email Maritz had writtento Microsoft CEO Bill Gates at the time.

"I have two key goals in the Apple relationship--one, maintain our share onthe platform and two, see if we could get them to embrace Internet Explorerin some way...it would require some real effort to get a deal, but I thinkit is possible," Maritz wrote.

Maritz answered that his job was to focus on technical issues, not legal matters