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Ex-Netscape Head Talks Microsoft

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03/07/2002 5:33 PM EST

By D. IAN HOPPER

WASHINGTON (AP) - Former Netscape head Jim Barksdale, one of the central figures in the Justice Department's 1998 antitrust trial against Microsoft, says he'd rather not use Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, but he has no choice.

"Even though I have preferred the Netscape Navigator (browser), for good reason I hope, to be my default browser, there are occasions when I go to the Web and I get this Internet Explorer," Barksdale said. "I don't want it on my machine, I really don't. But I can't get rid of it."

His comments, made in a court deposition connected with an effort by nine state attorneys general to impose harsh penalties on Microsoft for hurting consumer choice, were released Thursday after The Associated Press and other groups took legal action to gain access.

One of the states' proposed penalties, vehemently opposed by Microsoft, would force the company to offer a "modular" version of Windows so computer makers and users could remove extra features like the Web browser and instant messaging software.

The states hope that that would give other makers of browsers, messaging programs and other products a chance to gain more market share and provide more options to users.

Barksdale's comments and other Microsoft critics say the company unfairly "commingles" its flagship Windows operating system with other programs to shut out competitors.

A settlement agreed to by the federal government and nine other states would only make Microsoft hide the access to those programs, although they would still exist on the computer and could be invoked automatically by Windows.

The government and Microsoft defended the settlement in court Wednesday. The federal judge hearing both the federal and states' cases, Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, indicated she would not decide soon whether to approve the settlement.

Warden spent much of the six-hour interview last month asking Barksdale about his discussions with other people critical of Microsoft. Barksdale said he wrote newspaper columns and letters to Congress with the help of executives of AOL and the head of a trade group funded in part by Sun Microsystems.

Barksdale is on the board of directors at both AOL and Sun. He left Netscape after it merged with Time Warner in 1999, and is now a venture capitalist.

Microsoft has painted the states' efforts as an attempt by a select group of large technology firms to use the courts to hobble Microsoft.

Microsoft asked the court last month to throw out some of Barksdale's testimony because it referred to actions between Microsoft and Netscape that happened years ago and have already been considered by the courts. Kollar-Kotelly has not ruled on the request.

Kollar-Kotelly is to meet with Microsoft and the states in court Friday to make final plans for the states' trial. The trial is to start next week and could last two months. Microsoft has asked for a two-week delay, citing the states' extensive changes to the type of penalties they seek.