Microsoft grills Intel witness

Microsoft lawyers spent Thursday trying to undermine the credibility of one of the US Department of Justice's (DoJ) star witnesses.

Defence attorneys accused Intel vice president, Steven McGeady of having a grudge against Microsoft. McGeady worked on Intel's $500m research project developing Internet software. Intel later dropped the project, allegedly following threats from Microsoft that the software company would not support Intel's MMX chip if it persisted with the research.

McGeady remained calm in the face of allegations that he had compared Microsoft to Satan in an email, and that a colleague referred to him as a "prima donna".

Lawyers also alleged that McGeady fabricated a story about Bill Gates and Intel chief executive Andy Grove having a shouting match at a dinner in 1995 which was so loud that the caterers nearly walked out. McGeady countered that he had heard the story from his boss, who heard it from Grove.

McGeady testified earlier in the week that Intel was facing a "credible and fairly terrifying" threat from Microsoft, namely that if Intel continued its multimedia software project, it faced a Microsoft boycott of some of its chip technology.

On Monday, the DoJ is due to call Glenn Weadock, head of Independent Software, a Denver, Colorado consulting firm.