Scientist Testifies Microsoft System Design Isn’t Justified

A computer scientist testified Monday that there is no justification for the way Microsoft Corp. bundled its Internet software within its dominant Windows operating system.

Edward Felten, a professor at Princeton, told the judge at the Microsoft antitrust trial that the company deliberately blended different computer functions into some of the same Windows files. That essentially makes it impossible to delete all traces of the company’s Internet software without affecting the underlying operating system.

But Felten, who studied the closely guarded technical blueprints for Windows in a court-ordered examination, showed a 30-minute video describing how he was able to modify some files to prevent Microsoft’s Internet software from starting up.

“I know of no reason Microsoft was technologically compelled to design things that way,” Felten said. “These files are packages of stuff, and some of the stuff relates to Web browsing and some of it doesn’t.”

Felten’s testimony is important because the government is trying to prove Microsoft illegally tied its Internet software to Windows, in part to protect its monopoly among computer operating systems and also to crush rival Netscape Communications Corp..

But Microsoft complained that Felten’s method slowed some Windows functions as much as sevenfold. Microsoft also said the procedure, which deletes some Internet files, made it impossible to test a pre-release copy of its latest Internet software, which was made public earlier this month.

Felten said he hadn’t noticed any performance problems. He said his procedure worked with all Microsoft’s other updates until he handed over a copy of his removal program to the company.

That raised the eyebrows of U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson, who wondered whether Microsoft made product changes in response to Felten’s examination.

The government said it will show videotaped interviews--including hours more of lawyers questioning Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates--the rest of the week.