Microsoft Exec Tells of Netshow Strategy

A Microsoft Corp. executive presented a plan in 1999 to conquer the market for audio and video delivery over the Internet using a tactic already employed to fend off a rival Internet browser, a federal judge was told.

Nine states seeking stiff antitrust sanctions against the software giant cited a Jan. 3, 1999, e-mail to Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates outlining a plan to use the Windows operating system to promote Microsoft’s Netshow media-streaming software over that offered by RealNetworks Inc.

Will Poole, a vice president in charge of Microsoft’s Windows New Media Platform Division, testified in U.S. District Court that he was unsure whether the strategy was ever adopted.

Later in 1999, Microsoft integrated Netshow into the media player that is bundled into every copy of Windows.