WASHINGTON -- Microsoft tried to change the subject Thursday morning, in an attempt to leave its embarrassing videotape blunder behind.
The company's general counsel, William Neukom, said the testimony of a new witness who took the stand was "thousands of times" more important than an error-plagued, videotaped demonstration that the presiding judge of the antitrust trial had called "very troubling."
But the focus remained on the video, which Microsoft retaped last night. The company intended to show it in court Thursday afternoon.
Thursday morning, Microsoft witness Michael T. Devlin took the stand to testify that it is faster and easier for his company to write software for Windows than for Unix. Devlin is president of Rational Software Corporation, which sells development tools to help programmers write for multiple platforms.
He, too, presented a videotape. Microsoft Windows "is a very big leap forward for Rational and a big value add for our customers," the tape said.
Government attorney David Boies, who cross-examined Devlin, suggested that Rational relies on Microsoft to an unhealthy degree.
Devlin said that Windows is easier to write programs for than the many variants of Unix. "We have to do special engineering and testing for each," he said.
During a lunchtime recess, Microsoft declined to talk much about the videotape. "I don't think it's appropriate for us to say too much," Neukom said.
