REDMOND, Washington and WASHINGTON, D.C., Nov. 9, 1998 — Microsoft revealed today that programming errors in Apple’s QuickTime software explain why QuickTime fails to perform properly on certain versions of Windows. In written court testimony submitted last week, Apple’s senior vice president Avadis Tevanian accused Microsoft of
“sabotage.”
Dr. Tevanian later admitted on cross-examination, however, that he had no basis to testify that any incompatibility between QuickTime and Windows was deliberately caused by Microsoft to injure Apple.
Today Microsoft released evidence definitively showing that QuickTime’s failures when running on Windows are in fact caused by programming errors made by Apple, not Microsoft. In accordance with guidance provided by the court, Microsoft plans to enter the evidence into the court record when Microsoft’s witness is called to testify later in the trial.
“Apple’s willingness to claim ‘sabotage’ without basis in fact is very disappointing,”
said Tod Nielsen, General Manager of Microsoft’s Developer Relations Group.
”
At Microsoft, we are absolutely committed to making sure that software developers have the tools and support they need to ensure that their applications run well on the Windows platform. Apple’s shoot-from-the-hip allegations and their decision to blame their own development mistakes on Microsoft in a court of law is not only wrong, but is harmful to the entire software industry, and more importantly it’s harmful to our mutual customers.”
Microsoft showed today that it was Apple’s own programming mistakes that cause this problem. These findings have been verified by an independent software testing and development lab, Mindcraft ( http://www.mindcraft.com/ ), who issued a report on Apple’s bug that can be found at http://www.mindcraft.com/qtfix .
MindCraft’s findings verify Microsoft’s own testing, which shows that QuickTime’s failings are caused by errors in the way Apple programmed QuickTime to install itself on Windows. Specifically, Apple’s developers ignored specific directions provided by Netscape to developers on how to write and install a
“plug-in,”
which is an software program that runs inside a browser, and is supported by both Netscape and the Internet Explorer technologies. Apple’s development errors and their decision not to follow Netscape’s development instructions are causing the interoperability problems Apple now claims are the fault of the Windows platform.
Microsoft was provided with sufficient details to understand the issue when Apple filed its testimony and videotaped demonstrations with the Federal District Court in Washington D.C. two weeks ago. After identifying the QuickTime installation error and having it verified by a third party independent test lab, a Microsoft software developer created a simple fix for customers to download and install to correctly complete the installation process for QuickTime. The fix is available for download from the Microsoft Developer Network website at http://msdn.microsoft.com/developer/news/quicktime.htm
“Though it is clearly not Microsoft’s responsibility to provide fixes to another vendor’s product, we decided to offer the fix to customers because we feel they should not pay the price for Apple’s programming mistakes, groundless allegations and courtroom antics,”
Nielsen said.
“Hopefully, Apple will also make a fix available for their customers, as well as correct the mistake in the next version of QuickTime.”
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of products and services for business and personal use, each designed with the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.
