The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) on Monday asked Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson for permission to question Microsoft vice president Jim Allchin about an issue that came up in court last week. During the testimony of educator Edward Felton, it was alleged that Microsoft had purposefully changed its Windows Update Web site--where Windows 98 users go to download operating system updates--so that Felton's version of Windows 98 wouldn't work with the site. Felton had created a version of Windows 98 that doesn't include Internet Explorer integration with the OS and he said the Windows Update site worked fine with his Windows 98 until Microsoft saw how he did it. Then, without warning, Windows Update began turning away his IE-less Windows 98.
The DOJ wishes to talk to Allchin earlier than scheduled; Allchin was to have testified about Microsoft's testing of Felton's special version of Windows 98 at a later date. But Allchin refused to answer questions about Felton's Windows 98 in his September deposition, claiming that he hadn't been briefed at that time about the program.
The Microsoft antitrust trial will resume after New Years
