Microsoft
Two people, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the states are leaning toward asking for an extension at the next scheduled court proceeding on April 22. The states could ask for an extension of up to three years, said one person. The court oversight is due to end Nov. 12.
The issue arose at a Jan. 28 court hearing when 17 states, led by California and New York, cited complaints from computer makers and software vendors over Microsoft marketing programs for Windows Vista, the latest version of the operating system that runs 95 percent of the worlds personal computers.
The companies complained that Microsofts marketing programs hurt their ability to develop or load rival add-on software in PCs, according to a transcript of the hearing. The court decree that settled the government lawsuit against the worlds largest software company requires Microsoft to give computer makers such as Hewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. freedom to promote rival software on Windows-powered PCs.
“In the six-plus years that weve been enforcing the decree, this particular issue is one in which weve gotten the most number of complaints and heard the most anxiety about what Microsoft is doing,” Stephen Houck, who represents the states, said at the hearing.
Houck told U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in Washington that the states are “thinking very hard about” asking her to extend the decree, according to the transcript.
Microsoft spokesman Jack Evans said the company had no immediate comment.
Add-on Software
Add-on software is an important source of revenue for computer makers, said Roger Kay, president of Endpoint Technologies Associates, a market research company in Wayland, Massachusetts.
With tight profit margins, they “depend entirely on the add-ins to make their money,” he said.
In 2001, Microsoft settled the case brought by the U.S. Justice Department and 20 states after an appeals court upheld a trial judges findings that Microsoft had illegally protected its Windows monopoly. In January 2008, Kollar-Kotelly extended the decree at the request of the states.
The Bush administrations Justice Department opposed the extension and bowed out of enforcing the provisions — with the exception of a requirement that Microsoft disclose links that allow rival server operating software to communicate with Windows.
Microsoft has since publicly disclosed the links, yet the judge and state antitrust enforcers continue to press for technical documentation of the code.
Microsoft told the judge in a March 16 status report that it plans to deliver the last set of technical data on June 30.
Microsofts delay in providing that information prompted Kollar-Kotelly to grant the initial extension. At the time, she denied the states request for a five-year extension — that would have continued court supervision through 2012 — while inviting them to renew the request later on.
“The door remains open for the court to reassess the need for continued oversight,” she said in her ruling.
In seeking to extend the decree last year, the states argued that the full range of restrictions on Microsofts conduct should be given a chance to work. The states noted that, in requiring the software-interface disclosures, Kollar-Kotelly had envisioned this as a way to promote competition from other software makers.
Marketing Programs
The states have received complaints about marketing programs such as OEM Ready and Velocity that were designed to let computer makers load software without adding to the time it takes a PC to start, or boot up in computer industry parlance.