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Windows changes at issue

Friday, April 26, 2002 | 11:08 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- A Microsoft executive told a federal judge on Thursday that the company should be allowed to make changes in its Windows operating system that impair the performance of other programs so long as the company believes it is acting in the best interest of Windows users.

Christopher Jones, a Microsoft vice president in charge of Windows, testified against penalties that a coalition of states want the court to impose on Microsoft to redress the company's antitrust violations. Among the states' proposals is a requirement that Microsoft refrain from interfering with the way rival software works on its operating system without "good cause."

Jones said the restriction would prevent Microsoft from improving Windows, because competitors would argue about that definition. Under questioning by a lawyer for the states, he defended one such instance -- integrating the Internet Explorer browser with Windows -- that became the basis for the government's long-running antitrust case against the company.

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