Microsoft Antitrust Oversight Extended
A judge approved a two-year extension of court supervision for Microsoft Corp. to ensure that the company meets the terms of an antitrust settlement.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said the move was necessary because of disappointing progress by Microsoft in helping other software makers link with Windows-powered computers. She urged Microsoft to do all it could to speed the process.
Microsoft and the Justice Department had asked the judge to continue overseeing one key provision of the 2001 settlement through November 2009. The provision gives competitors access to the Windows source code so software can communicate smoothly with desktops powered by Windows.
In approving the request, Kollar-Kotelly said the provision could be extended for three more years beyond 2009, if necessary. She also asked whether the rest of the consent decree, which bars Microsoft from penalizing computer makers for promoting rival products, also should face extended supervision. U.S. Atty. Renata Hesse said that such a move was unnecessary.
“We would like to keep some form of supplemental reporting going” to ensure compliance, Hesse said. The judge set a court date of Sept. 7 for the next report on Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft’s progress.
Shares of Microsoft dropped 28 cents Wednesday to $22.73.
Robert Muglia, senior vice president in charge of Microsoft’s server business, told the judge the project was the company’s highest priority.
“We’re treating it as a product now,” not as a documentation issue, Muglia said. “We now have the right resources. Some of the most senior people at Microsoft are assigned to the project.”
The company has about 300 engineers and staff working on the project, and it said it would establish a computer laboratory where competitors would be able to test compatibility with Windows.
Kollar-Kotelly also questioned a feature in Microsoft’s new Internet Explorer 7 Web browser that automatically sets the company’s MSN Search program as the default Web search engine.
Microsoft settled its landmark antitrust case with the federal government and 17 states after it was found to have illegally defended its monopoly for Windows, the software that powers more than 90% of computers.
