Not All States Onboard For Microsoft Settlement

[ravi <gadfly@xxxxxxxx>]

from information week:

** Not All States Onboard For Microsoft Settlement

As a federal court prepares to hear commentary on last week's
proposed antitrust settlement between Microsoft and the Justice
Department, the District of Columbia and the 18 states that
joined the lawsuit are split on whether to support it.

U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is set to hold a
hearing Tuesday morning in Washington, at which lawyers for the
District of Columbia and the states will announce whether they
will sign the agreement or challenge it. Microsoft and the
Justice Department Nov. 1 announced a tentative settlement to
their antitrust case, which had its roots in litigation extending
back to the early 1990s. The five-year agreement would give PC
makers more flexibility to alter the Windows desktop, ban
exclusive and retaliatory contracts by Microsoft, require
Microsoft to disclose the APIs its middleware uses to talk to
Windows, and establish a three-person technical committee to
oversee Microsoft's compliance.

But several states oppose the settlement. A spokeswoman for
Massachusetts Attorney General Tom Reilly Monday says the deal
contains "too many exceptions" that allow Microsoft to evade
restrictions on its behavior. California is also said to oppose
the deal. New York and Connecticut, however, reportedly are close
to signing the Justice Department agreement.

The Nov. 1 settlement agreement doesn't bar Microsoft from
bundling new software with Windows--a tenet of the initial
government grievances with the company. Any settlement between
Microsoft and the government must be approved by the District
Court. If an agreement can't be reached, remedy hearings in the
case would begin March 11. - Aaron Ricadela