The Microsoft Trial: 1998-2001

Working to an unexpected and accelerated schedule decreed by Judge Jackson, which also limited each side to twelve witnesses, the trial opened a year earlier than had been anticipated on October 19, 1998, in the same federal courtroom in which Judge John Sirica had presided over the Watergate trials twenty years earlier. David Boies opened the presentation of the government's case, making extensive use of a lengthy videotaped deposition given by Bill Gates. Boies would return frequently to segments of this tape as he examined his witnesses. As Boies presented it, the testimony not only showed Gates making statements which he apparently knew were false, particularly about his lack of knowledge of the activities of other companies, but also revealed a pattern of prevarication and obfuscation that Boise claimed displayed an arrogant contempt for the requirements of federal law. Boies suggested that this disregard for the law permeated the corporate culture of Microsoft and that this atmosphere was created by the attitude and behavior of the company's founder, Bill Gates. The government's witnesses testified for the next two months. They included senior executives of other businesses in the computer industry, many of them celebrated pioneers in the new technology: Jim Barksdale of Netscape, Avie Tevanian of Apple Computers, and Steve McGeady of Intel.

Microsoft's defense began in January 1999. It's first witness was an economist, Professor Richard Schmalensee of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, whose task was to support Microsoft's position that it did not hold a monopoly. Court observers felt that Boies effectively showed Schmalensee to have held contradictory opinions in recent publications and statements regarding competition in the computer industry, which weakened his testimony. Most of the other witnesses were Microsoft executives and employees who testified to the more arcane aspects of software technology, particularly as it related to Microsoft's claim that Internet Explorer was an integral part of Windows. Boies displayed great skill as a cross-examiner, in at least one instance reducing the Microsoft witness to pleading with the judge to be allowed to re-prepare his demonstration.

Towards the end of February, as Microsoft neared the end of its presentation Judge Jackson's remarks from the bench indicated that he felt that Microsoft's defense had collapsed. At the end of March, while the trial was in recess in preparation for rebuttals, Judge Jackson announced that he would divide his conclusion of the case into two parts: the first, "findings of fact"; the second, "conclusions of law." This was seen as a way of exerting pressure on Microsoft to arrive at a settlement, but although negotiations went on throughout the rebuttal stage, no agreement was arrived at, and the findings of fact were published on November 5, 1999. In a document of more than 200 pages, Judge Jackson declared Microsoft to be a monopolist which had "harmed consumers in ways that are immediate and easily discernible" and had been shown to be willing to "use its prodigious market power and immense profits to harm any firm that insists on pursuing initiatives that could intensify competition against one of Microsoft's core products"; its success in hurting such companies had deterred investment in technologies and businesses which exhibited any potential of threatening Microsoft.