New date for Microsoft trial?

Attorneys on both sides of the Microsoft antitrust case are gearing up for D-Day next Monday, the scheduled start of the trial in the historic action filed by the Justice Department and 20 states.

A federal judge on Friday delayed the trial, originally set to begin this Thursday, by four days. The software giant has requested an additional two-week delay, but it appears unlikely the motion will be granted.

At a pretrial hearing Friday in Washington, U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson also ordered the company to give government investigators access to its sales and pricing databases. Both sides also finalized the list of witnesses who will testify at the trial, which is expected to last between four and eight weeks.

The database issue, which focuses on Microsoft's revenues from its original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), underscores the contentious debate between both sides.

Microsoft filed a motion Friday seeking an additional 14-day delay to prepare for what it said are new allegations in the trial. The trial was slated to begin October 15, but both parties agreed to postpone opening statements pending Judge Jackson's approval.

Microsoft trial witness table

Government witnesses James Barksdale chief executive, Netscape Communications David Colburn senior vice president of business affairs, America Online David Farber professor of telecommunications, Univ. of Pennsylvania Franklin Fisher professor of economics, MIT Edward Felten assistant professor of computer science, Princeton Univ. James Gosling vice president and fellow, Sun Microsystems William Harris president and CEO, Intuit Steven McGeady vice president of content group and health technology initiative, Intel John Soyring director of network computing services, IBM Avadis Tevanian senior vice president of software engineering, Apple Computer Glenn Weadock president, Independent Software Frederick Warren-Boulton principal, Microeconomic Consulting Research & Assoc. (MiCRA)

Microsoft witnesses Bob Muglia senior vice president for applications and tools, Microsoft Eric Engstrom general manager for multimedia, Microsoft Richard Schmalensee professor of economics and management, MIT Paul Maritz group vice president, platforms and applications, Microsoft James Allchin senior vice president, personal and business systems, Microsoft Joachim Kempin senior vice president, OEM sales, Microsoft Brad Chase vice president, developer relations and Windows marketing, Microsoft Cameron Myhrvold vice president, Internet customer unit, strategic relations, Microsoft William Poole senior director, business development, Microsoft Daniel Rosen general manager, new technology, Microsoft John Rose senior vice president and group general manager for enterprise computing, Compaq Computer Michael Devlin Rational Software

Earlier, both parties each substituted two new witnesses to their list of 12. The new government witnesses include James Gosling, vice president and fellow at Sun Microsystems and one of the founders of the Java programming language. Sun and Microsoft agreed to collaborate on the language, but the two companies have since squabbled over Microsoft's implementation of the code.

Government lawyers also plan to call on Apple Computer senior vice president of software engineering Avadis Tevanian.

Those additions, Microsoft said, indicate the government is plotting a different course with its strategy to prove the giant took calculated steps to maintain its monopoly for desktop operating systems.

Microsoft spokesman Mark Murray said the government is expecting the company to "fly blind" and additional time is necessary to conduct discovery.

"Microsoft does need to obtain documents from Apple and Sun to be able to depose and later cross-examine Tevanian and Gosling at trial," the company's lawyers wrote in a motion filed Friday.

"While Microsoft has made every effort to complete the discovery it needs within the short time provided, the government's last-minute maneuvering has left Microsoft with insufficient time to prepare for trial," Microsoft lawyers wrote.

Earlier on Friday, a Justice spokeswoman said: "We're ready to go."

Microsoft also had added two new witnesses Thursday, but Friday the company replaced them with Bob Muglia, the firm's senior vice president for applications and tools, and Eric Engstrom, general manager for multimedia at the company. Judge Jackson still must approve the substitutions but the government does not appear to object to the changes.

Microsoft's chief negotiator in the Java contract with Sun, Muglia will refute Java father Gosling's testimony. Meanwhile, Engstrom will be on hand to counter Tevanian's testimony, which is expected to cover the battle between the companies over Apple's QuickTime and similar Microsoft multimedia software.

"Two new issues and allegations were brought into this case with their new witnesses and we want to be able to refute those new allegations," Cullinan said. "This only reinforces our belief that the government continues to try to change the lawsuit that it filed back in May."

Microsoft's legal foes deny that.

"These are not new charges," said Marc Wurzel, spokesman for the New York Attorney General's office, the lead state in the lawsuit. "[Our new witnesses] will shed more light on the improper conduct that we allege in the lawsuit."

The Justice Department (DOJ) and 20 states filed a major lawsuit against Microsoft alleging the company has illegally maintained leadership in the OS market and that it is leveraging its Windows platform to gain monopolies in other markets, including Internet software.

Judge Jackson also ordered the software giant to turn over additional software tools that will allow government lawyers to extract information from Microsoft's sales and pricing databases. Cullinan said representatives for the plaintiffs will go to Microsoft's Redmond, Washington-based campus to access the databases in their native environment, using the same graphical user interfaces company employees use.

News.com's Dan Goodin contributed to this report.