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Microsoft to tweak Windows to address complaints
Washington, Apr 04: Microsoft Corp. has agreed to tweak its Windows XP operating system in response to recent feedback from the Justice Department over its antitrust settlement with the federal government.
Washington, Apr 04: Microsoft Corp. has agreed to tweak its Windows XP operating system in response to recent feedback from the Justice Department over its antitrust settlement with the federal government.
Microsoft will give more prominent display to a button in Windows that allows computer users to remove the company`s Internet Explorer browser, company spokesman Jim Desler said.
The company believes the button`s original placement complied with the settlement, Desler said. But he said the company agreed to change its position in the Windows "start menu" after talking with the Justice Department
"As part of our effort to cooperate fully and work collaboratively with the Justice Department we agreed to make this change," Desler said.
The Justice Department is overseeing Microsoft`s compliance with the settlement. Placement of the button in a hard-to-reach spot in Windows was one of several complaints Microsoft`s rivals made to the department last year.
The settlement, endorsed in November by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in November, resolved the federal government`s charges that Microsoft abused its monopoly in personal computer operating systems.
Terms of the settlement were designed to give computer makers greater freedom to feature rival browsers such as AOL Time Warner Inc.`s Netscape Navigator, as well as other non-Microsoft software, by allowing them to hide some Microsoft icons on the Windows desktop. Microsoft is prohibited from retaliating under the settlement against computer makers who choose to feature non-Microsoft products. Nor could it enter into agreements that require the exclusive support of some Microsoft software.
Mike Pettit, a spokesman for Procomp, an anti-Microsoft computer industry trade group, said the latest modification was minor. He called it "a complete waste of time and effort and has nothing to do with restoring competition." Bureau Report
The company believes the button`s original placement complied with the settlement, Desler said. But he said the company agreed to change its position in the Windows "start menu" after talking with the Justice Department
"As part of our effort to cooperate fully and work collaboratively with the Justice Department we agreed to make this change," Desler said.
The Justice Department is overseeing Microsoft`s compliance with the settlement. Placement of the button in a hard-to-reach spot in Windows was one of several complaints Microsoft`s rivals made to the department last year.
The settlement, endorsed in November by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly in November, resolved the federal government`s charges that Microsoft abused its monopoly in personal computer operating systems.
Terms of the settlement were designed to give computer makers greater freedom to feature rival browsers such as AOL Time Warner Inc.`s Netscape Navigator, as well as other non-Microsoft software, by allowing them to hide some Microsoft icons on the Windows desktop. Microsoft is prohibited from retaliating under the settlement against computer makers who choose to feature non-Microsoft products. Nor could it enter into agreements that require the exclusive support of some Microsoft software.
Mike Pettit, a spokesman for Procomp, an anti-Microsoft computer industry trade group, said the latest modification was minor. He called it "a complete waste of time and effort and has nothing to do with restoring competition." Bureau Report