Microsoft consent decree extended

Stephen Withers
Thursday, 31 January 2008 11:48

IT Policy - Regulation

In a brief statement, Microsoft senior vice president and general counsel Brad Smith said "We will continue to comply fully with the consent decree. We are gratified that the court recognized our extensive efforts to work cooperatively with the large number of government agencies involved."

While Kollar-Kotelly did commend Microsoft for its willingness to negotiate workable solutions rather than engaging in costly litigation, she observed in her judgement that "compliance-related issues have arisen regarding virtually every aspect of Section III [of the consent decree]", that "Microsoft did not proactively bring the problems with its technical documentation to the Court’s attention," and that "While Microsoft eventually proposed the RESET plan [aimed at finally getting usable communications documentation into the hands of developers in a finite time], and has since cooperated in carrying it out, it did so in the face of mounting pressure from all Plaintiffs and the Court."

On that last point, the judge also found that "there is no reason why the type of documentation finally being created under the RESET plan could not have been created from the outset if the necessary resources had been devoted [by Microsoft]."

Smith also pointed out that "We built Windows Vista in compliance with these rules, and we will continue to adhere to the decree's requirements." The judge's comments  noted that the states "were actually able to effect changes to Vista in advance of its release, particularly with respect to the methods for setting default middleware." (The consent decree meant Windows users had to be given the ability to specify that certain actions would by default run software other than that provided by Microsoft, for example Firefox in place of Internet Explorer.)

Other provisions of the consent decree make it easier for Microsoft's OEM customers to configure Windows as they see fit, and to ship computers with software (including operating systems) that are not Microsoft products; and for software developers to create, promote or support software that competes with Microsoft products.