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WASHINGTON -- Bill Gates' testimony on Monday was not merely an impassioned, personal plea against shackling Microsoft with unprecedented restrictions for the next 10 years.
It also was a historic moment: The richest man in the world taking the witness stand to thwart what Gates forcefully described as a catastrophe for Microsoft and, especially, its Windows franchise.
This is the first time Gates has testified in the antitrust proceedings that began in late 1997, and his appearance drew more crowds to the federal courthouse than anyone since Monica Lewinsky. Gates' previous testimony, played in court on videotape in 1998, showed a jittery, evasive top executive.
Not so this week. Gates was in top form, slightly nervous at first, but soon gaining confidence as he told the judge that the punishment proposed by nine states would roil the stock markets and slay Microsoft's ability to compete effectively from now on.
"Under the states' proposal, Windows would no longer be uniform," said Gates, decked out in a conservative blue suit and burgundy tie. He said computer makers "would have the ability to make essentially arbitrary changes to Windows."
The long-awaited showdown between Gates and lawyers for the states came after the Microsoft chairman submitted an exhaustively detailed, 163-page direct testimony that assailed nearly every point in the states' plan.
The written testimony says, for instance, that Microsoft would be required to develop Office for the Macintosh for the next decade -- even if Apple changed direction or lost market share and it no longer made sense for Microsoft to do so. Gates said that Microsoft would also be unfairly required to "fully implement standards" -- even before they have been finalized and adopted by a standards body.
On Monday, Gates began his testimony with an elaborate Powerpoint presentation and painstaking definitions of technical terms. He said that arbitrarily removing code from Windows would have disastrous consequences because software would lose application program interfaces -- he called it "published ways of calling on functions" -- and cease to work.
"This shows that if you remove a block of code, other functions are degraded in the most extreme way (and) the applications would fail," Gates said.
The loss of a reliable set of interfaces, Gates argued, would fragment Windows into different editions that wouldn't interoperate -- effectively creating incompatible versions and multiple markets for applications.
Gates was talking about the stronger antitrust sanctions pursued by nine states and the District of Columbia. The U.S. Justice Department and nine other states have reached a tentative settlement that must be approved by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.
No discussion of the deal was present in Gates' direct testimony, which Microsoft hopes will prevent the states from quizzing him on the topic during his time on the stand.
The nine still-litigating states are California -- home to many Microsoft foes -- Connecticut, Florida, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Utah and West Virginia.
Steven Kuney, an antitrust attorney for the still-litigating states, surprised observers by cross-examining Gates instead of the states' lead lawyer, Brendan Sullivan.
Kuney suggested that since Microsoft has been found liable for violations of antitrust laws, Judge Kollar-Kotelly must find a way to "restore competition to the levels it was at before the illegal acts were committed."
"My testimony focused on how the states' proposed remedy would prevent perfectly appropriate pro-competitive behavior," Gates replied.
"Are any of the 12 acts which the appeals court found illegal continuing at Microsoft?" Kuney asked.
"No," Gates replied. "If they were, I would stop it."
Gates said he hoped his personal appearance would resolve any lingering questions about Microsoft's willingness to comply with all the nuances of U.S. antitrust laws.
"I hope that my testimony helps the court to resolve the issues in this case. That would be best for consumers and the industry and that's why I'm here," Gates told reporters as he entered the court house on Monday.
Crowds gathered outside the courthouse on Pennsylvania Ave. as early as 7 a.m. (EDT) to see Microsoft's founder take the witness stand. Not everyone made it into the packed fourth floor courtroom: As the proceedings began, several dozen people, waiting hopefully, were still in line.
They may have better luck on Tuesday, when Gates is scheduled to return for a second day of testimony.
(Robert Zarate reported from Washington. Declan McCullagh contributed to this report from Omaha, Nebraska.)
