Windows can be broken down. Oh no it can't. Oh yes it can.

"Microsoft has contended all along that Section 1 (of the states' proposed remedy) cannot be done," Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler said Wednesday. "It cannot be done. You cannot create modular versions of Windows. You cannot take code out without degradation, without crippling the machine."

But wait...

The first of two expert witnesses testified in federal court Tuesday that so-called middleware can be safely removed from Microsoft's Windows operating system. Andrew Appel, the 14th witness in the proceedings to determine a remedy for Microsoft's antitrust violations and a computer science professor at Princeton University, began his testimony here late Tuesday before a sparsely filled courtroom.

As with other witnesses, Appel submitted written testimony to the court, after which he was cross-examined by a Microsoft lawyer. Appel is the second-to-last witness that trustbusters will present before Microsoft begins its portion of the proceedings.

News source: ZdNet News