The state attorneys general still pursuing the antitrust case against Microsoft in the US have asked a federal judge to force the company to show them the inner workings of its flagship product.
The states said they need to see the source code of its monopoly Windows operating system so they can verify the company's claim that it is not technically feasible for the company to offer a stripped-down version of Windows.
The motion was filed with US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on yesterday and first made available today.
Microsoft cannot base its defense on the design of its source code and simultaneously deny the litigating states the opportunity to test those arguments by interrogating the code, the states said in their filing.
As part of their proposed sanctions against Microsoft, the states have told KollarKotelly that she should order the company to offer a stripped-down version of Windows.
This is the equivalent of demanding of Coke that they turn over the formula, said Andrew Gavil, a professor of antitrust law at Howard University. This is exactly what Microsoft wanted to avoid.
In yesterday’s motion, the states also asked the judge to appoint a technical expert to help provide impartial opinions on the complex, highly technical issues raised by the parties.