Microsoft acts on anti-trust settlement

By Alun Williams

Posted on 5 Aug 2002 at 17:52

In a media briefing that has just concluded, Microsoft has outlined various milestones for achieving its obligations under the terms of its proposed settlement with the DoJ and nine states. Under those terms, Microsoft has to fulfil agreed actions in advance of any final settlement of the ongoing case.

Brad Smith, senior vice president and general counsel for Microsoft, outlined Microsoft's position before fielding media questions.

First of all, Smith covered four major August deadlines: the release 'this summer' of SP1 for Windows XP; the required disclosure of internal Windows APIs; a communications protocol licensing program (licensing technologies to third parties, addressing the accusation that Microsoft used desktop systems to lock people into its server offerings); and a review of its licensing agreements with ISPs.

Microsoft's approach on all four counts was, Smith asserted, governed by five principles: that Microsoft and its employees take full responsibility for complying with the terms of the settlement; that Microsoft would devote the necessary resources to meeting its obligations; that the company would 'err on the side of reasonableness'; would seek to fully incorporate feedback from all parties involved in the process; and would strive to 'build constructive relationships' with those parties.

But enough of this declaration of principles - what is Microsoft actually going to be doing?

On the first issue, the release of Windows XP Service Pack 1 (SP1), Smith promised that Microsoft was still on course for a release 'this summer' (when pressed on the timing, this represents any time before late September).

The significance of SP1 is that it will be the first release for Windows XP that allows OEMs - or indeed end-users - to hide access to specific middle-ware applications. These were listed in the settlement with the DoJ as Internet Explorer, Windows Media, Outlook Express, Instant Messenger and Microsoft's implementation of a Java virtual machine (JVM). Brad Smith pointed out, however, the 'forward-looking' nature of the agreement - if other new categories of middle-ware emerge, they are to be covered too.

Smith emphasised that all Windows XP code remains intact, because third-party applications may rely on built-in Windows technologies - only end-user access is involved. For example, Internet Explorer will not be missing from the system itself, but it may be omitted from the Start menu by an OEM configuring its own Windows setup. Smith also pointed out that last Thursday (1 August) saw the release of SP3 for Windows 2000, which provides similar functionality for that OS.

The second milestone involves the internal Windows APIs. Again, under the terms of the settlement with the DoJ - Section III.D, to be precise - Microsoft is obligated to disclose internal application programming interfaces (APIs).

A total of 272 APIs were identified by Microsoft - after 'exhaustive' automated and manual searching of Windows code - to be relevant to the five middle-ware applications listed above. These will be disclosed on MSDN, on 28 August, free of charge.

Addressing speculation that Microsoft would use Section III.J of the agreement - giving the company the right to withhold information it felt would threaten the security of its systems - Smith asserted that 272 out of 273 programming calls would be disclosed. The one exception involves the Windows File Protection API. This allows the replacement of critical Windows components. Microsoft has judged that this should be legitimately withheld as revealing it would increase the threat of more (and more harmful) viruses. An RPC (Remote Procedure Call) API was also to be withheld, but the security issue surrounding it has been patched.