Software Expert Criticizes Microsoft

WASHINGTON — A software pioneer who testified Tuesday for the government in the Microsoft Corp. antitrust case said he tried but failed to remove the company’s Internet navigation software from its popular Windows system.

The government contends Microsoft “tied” its Internet software, called Internet Explorer, to the current version of its Windows operating system, giving its Explorer software an unfair advantage over rival Internet browser products.

Windows is installed on about 90% of the nation’s desktop computers, and its dominance is the core of the Justice Department’s claim that Microsoft is a monopoly.

Microsoft contends that Internet Explorer and Windows were merged into one in a way that benefits consumers, and that consumers may always use another Internet browser if they choose.

But professor David Farber of the University of Pennsylvania, a software expert and one of the inventors of the technology underlying the Internet, said picking a substitute for the Microsoft product is not as easy as the company makes it sound.

Farber designed one of the early sections of the Internet and has about 30 years of experience with computers.

“I tried it, but it was very difficult for me with my expertise,” to strip the Internet Explorer browser from Windows and replace it with Netscape Communications Corp.’s browser, Farber testified as the trial entered its eighth week.

Even sophisticated users such as he are afraid to strip out various pieces of computer code linked to Internet Explorer for fear they will damage the overall operating system, Farber said.

Farber disputed Microsoft’s broad definition of an “operating system,” saying that some of what Microsoft bundles with Windows and calls part of the operating system isn’t technically part of the operating system although it’s marketed that way.

Farber’s cross-examination was scheduled to continue today.

Outside the courthouse on Tuesday, the lead lawyer for the 19 states suing Microsoft in tandem with the Justice Department said he expects no other state to follow the lead of South Carolina, which pulled out of the suit on Monday.