Friday, November 1, 2002
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly will announce later today whether she accepts or rejects a landmark antitrust settlement reached by Microsoft, the federal government and nine states, according to the judge herself.
Meantime, she may also have a decision whether to endorse the harsher penalties pursued by nine other states who did not sign onto the deal.
Microsoft was found to have violated antitrust laws, illegally maintaining its monopoly over computer software operating systems by strong-arming competitors. But an appeals court threw out a previous order that would break the company in two, leaving Kollar-Kotelly to decide how Microsoft should be punished.
The settlement would prevent Microsoft from participating in exclusive deals that could hurt competitors. Part of the requirements of the settlement deal includes uniform contract terms for computer manufacturers, allow manufacturers and customers to remove icons for some Microsoft features, and require Microsoft to release some technical data so software developers can write programs for Windows that work as well as Microsoft products do.
Justice prosecutors and Microsoft say the deal will immediately benefit consumers. Microsoft has already started complying with the deal by distributing technical data and releasing an update to Windows XP that permits the removal of Microsoft icons. But Microsoft competitors said the measurement taken is adequate.
The nine states still suing Microsoft, led by Iowa, California and Connecticut, spent two months trying to convince Kollar-Kotelly that those penalties aren't enough to give Microsoft's rivals a fair chance to compete with the software giant, whose Windows operating system and productivity software run on over 90 percent of home and business computers.
Those states want Microsoft to divulge more technical information, give computer manufacturers more freedom in how they package Windows in their systems and allow users to completely remove some Microsoft features from Windows rather than just hide access to them.
By: DocMemory
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