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In an email dated 7 January 2004, Jim Allchin, who is co-president of Microsoft's Platform Products and Services Group, told Gates, the company's co-founder, and chief executive Steve Ballmer, that Microsoft had lost its way.

The email was submitted as evidence by attorney Richard Hagstrom in an Iowa court, on the second day of Comes v Microsoft, an class action lawsuit against the software maker that alleges unfair business practices harmed consumers.

'Mr. Allchin says, I'm not sure how the company lost sight of what matters to our customers, both business and home, the most, but in my view we lost our way,' Hagstrom told the court. 'I think our teams lost sight of what bug-free means, what resilience means, what full scenarios mean, what security means, what performance means, how important current applications are, and really understanding what the most important problems our customers face are. I see lots of random features and some great vision, but that does not translate into great products. He goes on to say, I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft.'

Hagstrom's co-counsel Roxanne Conlin had earlier claimed that Microsoft routinely deletes Gates' email.

'This is the job description

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for Bill Gates' technical assistant, and it says, it is a corporate policy not to make a permanent record of Bill's works,' she said. 'This task of making sure there is no permanent record of Mr Gates' work is left to this technical assistant. The job duties of the technical assistant require him to delete email files from Mr Gates' computer weekly.'

Court transcripts also show that Conlin submitted evidence that Allchin and Brian Valentine, senior vice president Windows division, encouraged employees to delete messages.

'This directive is issued weeks after the finding of fact in the government case which refer to so many E-mails in support of anticompetitive acts by Microsoft,' Conlin said. 'Valentine's order requires employees to get rid of all email after 30 days no matter where it is. And it is unequivocal.'

Microsoft confirmed on Friday that both Gates and Ballmer will give evidence in person.

'Unlike plaintiffs, we do not believe that jurors would be confused by permitting Mr Gates and Mr Ballmer to provide all of their testimony at one time and explain the birth and development of Microsoft and the PC and software industries,' associate general counsel Rich Wallis said in a statement.

In an earlier statement Wallis said that Microsoft has given Iowa consumers and businesses great value at a fair price.

'Consumers in Iowa and elsewhere overwhelmingly chose Microsoft products because they receive great value from these products,' he said. 'Compared to other key staples of the information era - Internet access, cell phones, cable TV - Windows costs a fraction as much and lasts for the life of your computer. And the cost of Windows has stayed low and relatively unchanged for years, even as we've added hundreds of new features.'

The case continues.