Microsoft and Government File Lists of Rebuttal Witnesses

(May 3, 1999) Microsoft filed its list of rebuttal witnesses to be called in the antitrust suit filed by the government last May. The May 3, 1999 filing names David Colburn, of AOL, Gordon Eubanks, of Oblix, and Richard Schmalensee, of MIT.

See, Defendant Microsoft Corporation's Designation of Rebuttal Witnesses and Description of Rebuttal Witness Testimony, 5/3/99.

David Colburn is a lawyer and Senior Vice President for Business Affairs of America Online, Inc. Colburn already testified on direct testimony on behalf of the government. He is being called by Microsoft as a hostile witness.

Microsoft's filing states that Colburn will be questioned about the "history of the negotiations among AOL, Sun Microsystems, Inc. ("Sun") and Netscape Communications Corporation ("Netscape") prior to the public announcement that AOL would acquire Netscape and enter into a strategic partnership with Sun ..."

Microsoft also intends to raise the veracity of Colburn's prior testimony. Microsoft wrote that he will be questioned about the "completeness and candor of prior testimony given by Mr. Colburn in his deposition prior to the trial ..."

Gordon Eubanks, is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of Oblix, Inc. Until last month he was CEO of Symantec, a utilities software company which works closely with Microsoft. Oblix is a Mountain View, California, company that produces enterprise application software for Corporate Services Automation (CSA). Oblix provides web-based software that automates and manages corporate services by creating a Digital Persona for each employee.

Eubanks will testify regarding a variety of topics, including the "rapid pace of change in the software business," "paradigm shifts in the software industry," the "increasing importance of communication bandwidth, and the prospect that it will decrease the importance of computing platforms," the "lack of an accepted definition of what constitutes an operating system," and the "importance of standard operating systems to the evolution of the personal computer industry."

Richard Schmalensee is a Professor of Economics and Dean of the Sloan School of Management at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is Microsoft's economic expert.

The government also filed its list of rebuttal witness. It contains Garry Norris, of International Business Machines (IBM), Franklin Fisher, a program manager in IBM's network-hardware unit, and Edward Felten, a Princeton University Professor, who already testified on direct.

The trial has been in recess since February. Trial is likely to resume in late May or June.

David Colburn Biography
Source: AOL.
David Colburn is Senior Vice President of Business Affairs for America Online, Inc., reporting to Bob Pittman. David has more than 15 years experience as an intellectual property and merger and acquisition lawyer, a venture capitalist and a strategic planner and in working with major computer, communication and media partners.

In the early 1990's, David helped form the Silicon Valley office of Weil, Gotshal and Manges, one of the nations largest law firms with a leading technology law practice. In his role at WG&M, David, in part, assisted large technology, communication and media companies in planning and structuring ventures and developing strategy in the online space.

Prior to that time, he was the CEO of the largest poster company in the world and the general partner of Greystone Partners, a boutique venture capital fund focusing in high-tech and manufacturing.

David earned a law degree from the University of Wisconsin and was Order of the Coif. He earned his undergraduate degree from the University of Michigan with honors.

Gordon Eubanks Biography
Source: Oblix.
President & CEO - Gordon Eubanks joined Oblix in April 1999 as president and CEO. He has served as president and chief executive officer of Symantec Corporation since 1984. Eubanks was formerly the founder of C&E Software, which was a software developer of low-end productivity solutions. He was instrumental in developing Q&A, a flat-file database with an integrated word processor, which became Symantec's first product offering. C&E Software acquired Symantec Corporation in 1984, at which time Eubanks became president and chief executive officer of Symantec. Under Eubanks' leadership, Symantec has evolved into the world leader of utility software for business and personal computing. With $600 million in revenues, Symantec Corporation is currently the seventh largest PC software company in the world. Eubanks also serves on the boards of Cygnus, Oblix and Symantec.
Richard Schmalensee Biography
Source: MIT.
Schmalensee leads the formulation and implementation of Sloan's overall strategy for maintaining its leadership in management education and research and plays a central role in the School's resource development. He works with students, faculty, staff, alumni, and recruiters on a wide range of issues such as entrepreneurship, becoming a "virtual" business school through Web-based courses, and international partnerships with other management universities around the world. Schmalensee also serves on the MIT Academic Council and Education Committee under the President, Provost, and Chancellor.

Expertise: Industrial economics, environmental policy, government regulation. Dean's Office Duties Schmalensee works closely with Deputy Dean Thomas J. Allen, sharing responsibility for academic personnel. He is in charge of academic hiring and the Master's Program.