Microsoft plan averts conflict over antitrust pact

Peter Kaplan

WASHINGTON: Microsoft Corp. has averted a looming conflict with U.S. officials by agreeing to disclose more information about its Windows server operating system, according to documents filed in federal court on Wednesday.

Lawyers at the U.S. Justice Department's antitrust division who are overseeing the landmark 2002 antitrust settlement said in the filing that Microsoft had assuaged most of their concerns about whether the company was doing enough to comply with the landmark 2002 settlement.

Microsoft is required to license key information about its computer operating system to other companies under terms of the antitrust settlement.

Under Microsoft's new plan, companies that signed licenses to get the software "protocols" would get access to key additional computer code of its Windows server software for free.

Justice Department lawyers called the plan "a constructive proposal that addresses many of the (government's) concerns ...," in the filing before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, the judge presiding over the settlement.

In a separate issue raised in the court filing, meanwhile, the department noted that it had received a complaint about Windows Vista, the new operating system that Microsoft is developing as a successor to Windows XP.

The complaint questioned whether computer makers would be able to "customize" the "first-boot" experience that computer users go through when they first turn on their machines.

In particular, the complaint centered on the "Welcome Center," a new feature that presents users with different computer set-up options and commercial offers at the end of the "initial out-of-the-box experience," the department said.

"While we have not reached any conclusion as to the merits of these complaints, plaintiffs continue to gather information and monitor the situation," the department said.

Microsoft spokesman Jack Evans said the company had discussed the design of Vista with all of the top 20 PC manufacturers.

Evans said that "nearly all of them are satisfied with how we've balanced the improved user's experience and clarity with the ability for (computer makers) to differentiate and add value during the first 10 minutes of using a new Windows Vista PC."

Concerns about Microsoft's compliance with the settlement emerged in January, when the department complained to Kollar-Kotelly that Microsoft had fallen behind on some of the technical work needed to comply with the settlement.

The department said delays were holding up efforts to verify documentation for protocols, which companies need to make their products work with Microsoft's Windows computer operating system.

In its January filing with the court, the department cited Microsoft delays that it said were holding up efforts by an outside panel of technical experts to test and verify the documentation.

Microsoft said in a separate filing in January that it was having a difficult time finding and hiring employees with the necessary experience to get the verification work done in time.

In its filing on Wednesday, the department said the additional computer code that Microsoft has promised to disclose will speed up the process.

Microsoft said in a separate comment to the judge that two more companies had signed up to license the Windows protocols, Japan's Hitachi Ltd. and ONStor Inc.