In an outbreak of late-afternoon fireworks on Thursday, Oct. 22, Microsoft Corp.'s trial attorney accused Netscape Communications Corp. of cococting a key allegation in the Justice Dept.'s antitrust suit against the software giant: that Microsoft officials proposed to Netscape on June 21, 1995, that the two divide up the then-fledgling Internet browser market.

Attorney John L. Warden hurled the accusation against Netscape Chief Executive James Barksdale after producing several internal Netscape E-mails, including one written by Barksdale in early June, indicating that encounters leading up to the fateful meeting had been "very friendly" and "nonthreatening."

He also noted that a timeline written for Justice by Netscape's outside attorney, Gary Reback, in July, 1995, never mentioned the alleged proposal by Microsoft that it would make a browser for all Microsoft Windows operating systems and that Netscape would sell its product for non-Windows operating systems, such as the Apple Macintosh.

Warden angrily insisted that the only purported evidence that backed up Barksdale's market-division claim was notes that Netscape founder Marc Andreessen made at the meeting. According to those notes, written on a laptop and released today, was a notation that said: "Threat that MS will own the Win95 client market and that Netscape should stay away."

Warden also alluded to Andreessen's deposition in August, 1997, during which he said that one reason he took notes was because "I thought it might be a topic of discussion on antitrust matters."

"IMAGINED"? If the internal documents leading up to the June 21 meeting are viewed in their entirety, Warden said, "the only fair conclusion that can be reached is that Marc Andreessen invented or imagined a proposal to divide markets, and that you and your company have signed on to that invention or imaginary concoction to assist in the prosecution of this lawsuit."

He argued that there was nothing in the written record "that corroborates in any way that anyone made any market-division proposal."

But Barksdale was having none of it. "I was a witness to it, and you weren't," he shot back on the witness stand.

As the day ended, Justice's trial attorney, David Boies, submitted Microsoft E-mail into evidence. While the evidence was not read in court, it appeared to back up Barksdale's claim that Microsoft wanted the browser market for Windows.

In E-mails outlining the goals going into the meeting and what was accomplished, Microsoft official Dan Rosen wrote that one goal was to "establish Microsoft ownership of the Internet client [browser] platform for Win95." Rosen also wrote, "Much of the conversation centered on a discussion of how the line would be drawn between the platform and their value-added. On the client end, we discussed sucking most of the functionality of the current Netscape browser...into the platform; they seemed okay with this concept."

MOVING LINES. But Barksdale said in court that he didn't feel okay at all during the meeting when Microsoft began the discussion of drawing lines between operating systems and browsers. "We feel strongly that a browser is an application," said Barksdale, "and a manufacturer of an operating system that controls 90% of the world's platform that pulls the browser into the operating system has stepped across the line."

He told the court that when Microsoft raised the issue, "I kept asking, 'Where will this line end, and what keeps the line from moving?'" He said that the discussion meant that on one side of the line were browsers written for Windows and that on the other side were browsers written for non-Microsoft products.

Microsoft's proposal surprised him, Barksdale testified. "That's where it got very confusing to me. It seemed to exclude our very best product." Until then, Barksdale didn't realize that Microsoft intended to integrate the browser into its operating system, he said. Such a proposal "effectively kills you. You don't have an air supply.... It was a clear statement to my little company from a great big company."

Court is in recess on Friday. Warden will continue to cross-examine Barksdale on Monday. On Tuesday morning, Boies will redirect, and then the government will show excerpts of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates's videotaped deposition on Tuesday afternoon.

By Susan Garland in Washington