Microsoft Agrees to 18 Months More Antitrust Oversight

Microsoft has agreed to a government request to extend antitrust oversight by another 18 months...because it still isn't done with mandatory technical documentation.

The United States government’s antitrust oversight of software giant Microsoft was supposed to have ended way back in 2007, with Microsoft completing required technical documentation on its technologies and protocols so third parties could develop products that successfully interoperated with Microsoft’s operating systems and services. However, has of mid-2006 the documentation was far from complete, so the Department of Justice and Microsoft agreed to a two-year extension that pushed the oversight of Microsoft’s antitrust compliance all the way out to November 2009. And now? Those two years weren’t enough, and—despite a new commitment interoperability— Microsoft still isn’t done with that documentation. The result? Microsoft and the DOJ have filed for another 18 month extension of Microsoft’s antitrust oversight.

If approved by Judge Kollar-Kotelly, the extension would see oversight of Microsoft’s compliance with antirust rulings stretched out through May 12, 2011. The original antitrust settlement with Microsoft was reached in November 2002.

Although Microsoft’s forthcoming Windows 7 operating system is mentioned in the filing, it does not appear to be a primary reason for the oversight extension; instead, the delay seems to be to accommodate a technical review process of the materials Microsoft has produced, which apparently still feature many unresolved issues.

A hearing on the extension has been scheduled for April 22.