Ex-Gateway Exec Says Microsoft Threatened Firm
A former executive of Gateway Inc. testified Thursday that Microsoft Corp. threatened to stop licensing its Windows operating system to Gateway after the company balked at renewing its licenses for other Microsoft products.
Peter Ashkin, who was Gateway’s chief technology officer, alleged that the software giant pressured Gateway to renew its license for Microsoft’s lucrative office productivity software by threatening to end Gateway’s license deal for Microsoft’s flagship Windows operating system.
Ashkin, testifying during the fourth day of a federal trial to determine penalties against Microsoft for antitrust violations, also said Microsoft threatened to remove Gateway from a list of vendors that Microsoft utilized to buy computers for its employees.
He said a Microsoft representative told him that Gateway was considered a “bad partner” because it offered the rival PC operating system software Linux on some computers.
Microsoft attorneys fired back by calling Ashkin, now president of product strategy at Microsoft rival AOL Time Warner Inc., a biased and untruthful witness.
When confronted with a transcript of an earlier deposition, Ashkin, one of only two computer company executives who have testified against the software company, conceded retribution for selling Linux wasn’t the reason Gateway was pulled off Microsoft’s list of preferred vendors. He said Microsoft told Gateway that it was removed because it lacked a substantial international presence and did not have a product line that catered to large businesses.
Ashkin also backed away from his other claim under cross-examination by Microsoft attorney Richard Pepperman. Ashkin conceded that he wasn’t aware of any document from Microsoft threatening to terminate Gateway’s license.
Thursday’s proceedings were a setback for California and eight other states seeking stiffer antitrust punishment of Microsoft.
The states want presiding U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to make Microsoft offer a modular version of its flagship Windows software that would allow PC makers and consumers to select their own substitutes for so-called middleware products such as Web browsers and media players.
But Kollar-Kotelly has put increasing pressure on the states to rein in their case. In her latest move, Kollar-Kotelly excluded the entire supplemental written testimony by Michael Tiemann, an executive at Microsoft rival Red Hat Inc., a distributor of Linux. The judge said the testimony was irrelevant and added that Microsoft was not given enough time by the states to review the document.
