U.S. Challenges Microsoft Exec on How Easy It Is to Switch Browsers
The government challenged a senior Microsoft Corp. executive Thursday on his claim that people can quickly and easily download Web browsers over the Internet.
Microsoft Vice President Brad Chase testified under cross-examination in his company’s antitrust trial that downloading a Web browser--either Microsoft’s own Internet Explorer or the rival browser made by Netscape Communications Corp.--is a simple and usually successful process for most people.
Pressed by Justice Department attorney David Boies, however, Chase acknowledged that the download can be time-consuming. The process can take up to 50 minutes on a personal computer used at home, depending on the modem speed.
But Chase insisted that the process is an easy one nevertheless. “It takes a little bit of time, but not a lot. It’s quicker than going to a store,” he said.
“You go catch a few innings of the ballgame while it’s downloading,” Chase said.
The issue is significant because of the company’s claims that people who receive Microsoft’s Web browser as part of their computer’s operating system can simply choose to switch to another. Browsers are software that allow computer users to view the World Wide Web.
The Justice Department claims in its antitrust lawsuit that Microsoft used its monopoly power and illegal tactics to crush and discourage competition, including Netscape and its rival browser.
Another Microsoft employee, Joe Belfiore, a computer programmer who gave a deposition in the trial last March, cited “tons of feedback that suggest that downloading IE [Internet Explorer] takes too long, is too hard.”
“You’ll find that the number of hours that it takes to download these components over a phone line is incredibly discouraging to people,” Belfiore said in his testimony.
Chase suggested that Belfiore perhaps was engaging in self-critique popular in the “Microsoft culture.”
Boies also presented Chase with a March 1997 e-mail, sent to him by another Microsoft employee, on how to get more people to use the company’s browser.
“Almost 60% of all surfers have never downloaded any software from the Web. My sense is that these people are not very likely to download anything, let alone a browser that takes two hours to download,” that employee wrote.
Chase said he had no problem with the memo but disputed its interpretation.
* DISTRACTED GIANT: Microsoft’s antitrust woes may be easing its grip on world of computing. A1
* MORE TECH COVERAGE: A company’s offer of free computers causes some head-scratching. C3
