DOJ To Oversee Windows 7 Development

MrKaos writes "Windows 7 is already being reviewed by U.S. government technical appointees. Under the terms of Microsoft's November 2001 Justice Department settlement, and final court judgment issued about a year later, a government-sanctioned 'Technical Committee' has been formed to oversee Windows development. The TC is responsible for ensuring that Microsoft complies with the terms of the final judgment, investigating complaints about Microsoft abuses and regularly reporting on the company's compliance."

Comments

Eh.

[Mongoose Disciple]

As judgements go, this seems toothless or perhaps worse . . . unless you consider the specter of this years ago to have caused Microsoft to make some different decisions.

According to TFA, the DoJ is mainly concerned with:

- Compatability/bundling in four areas, three of which, such as bundling an instant messenger, Microsoft has given up on since '01. Web browser is the area on that list still in play.

- Making sure that bugs in previous versions of Windows don't recur. Congratulations, your tax dollars are providing extra Windows QA.

Don't hold your breath

[Toe, The]

Windows 7 is "scheduled" for maybe something like sometime in 2010, but they're not making any promises. And if you look at the slated "features" It also looks like they're not sure what they have going on there. Updated versions of Paint and WordPad? Is that really what they're going for?

Instead of "Windows 7" the real code name is "Maybe we can come up with something you will want to buy, unlike Vista...?" However, unfortunately, they really have no idea how to accomplish that.

Oh, and just to be a snob... by comparison, OS X 10.5 looks like it will be adding real features and actually be released in about one year from now.

(I know, -3 Troll/Flamebait... But it was too fun not to post.)

No, we're serious.

[mollog]

Perhaps you haven't been following the Microsoft/DoJ saga. Microsoft has gained its dominance on the desktop by spiking its competitors software via the API. The gummint is just trying to be the police that makes sure that the API is fully open and available to developers just as it would be for Microsoft's internal developers.

Where have you been?

Re:too far

[maxume]

The theory is that Microsoft broke the law and that regulation and scrutiny would be better (for society) than breaking it up or dissolving it.

Not nearly far enough

[mollog]

Perhaps you tuned in late. Or, perhaps you just were not paying attention. Maybe you shouldn't be commenting about things that you have no clue about.

Microsoft came to dominance by sabotaging the API so that its competitors did not have a good API to use, and its internal divisions for Excel and Word had a secret API that worked well. This is monopolistic behavior.

Part of the judgement agreed to by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is that Microsoft will open its API to all.

Re:Yup.

[barzok]

Is there anyplace in the US that is served by both Comcast & TW?

I can see leaving Comcast or TW for Verizon or (insert DSL provider here), but Comcast to TW implies that there's local competition for your cable dollars, and I don't think that happens today.

Re:Yup.

[Saint Stephen]

When you use the Kernel debugger, pretty much everything windows does becomes pretty transparent. Especially when you connect with a Firewire computer and freeze it in Kernel Mode. It's all in Inside Windows 2000, etc.

Re:I am _so_ calling this one:

[bberens]

Everyone may say that would be too little, too late, but preemptive strikes are un-American. I disagree on two counts. First, this is not a preemptive strike. This is the punishment for past wrongdoings. I would liken it to being on parole. The 'police' watch over you very carefully for a while to make sure you keep your nose clean. Secondly, it's no longer correct to suggest that preemptive strikes are un-American. That has been our standing military policy since at minimum 5 years, and arguably longer than that. It is in fact, you, who are un-American. (even if I agree with your stance).

Re:Yup.

[_KiTA_]

Is it just the conspiracy theorist in me that finds this scary as to what could be added into Windows 7? Super-secret backroom deals that the DoD / DoJ can covertly spy on the unwitting populace? Ah, silly tech, they don't have to send people OVER to do that, they just have to ask Microsoft for a favor over the phone.

Re:You're kidding?

[UnknowingFool]

From my standpoint, everyone that was involved with Katrina was over their heads. Why I put more blame on FEMA is that emergency management was the reason it was created and it failed due to the incompetence at top. The governor of a state and the mayor of the city might be idiots but they clearly were not trained for this kind of situation. One of the main reasons/excuses that the federal gave why aid was not sent earlier was that Louisiana and New Orleans had not formally requested it. Basically they didn't fill out the correct paperwork; however, numerous counter examples were given where detailed requests were being passed to FEMA and the federal government but for some reason, it did not act on the requests.

Re:That is why we call it a 'settlement'

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

Again, it is not illegal to be a monopoly; it is illegal to use the leverage of being a monopoly to stay a monopoly.

Actually, most of the actions they were convicted of were leveraging a monopoly to gain unfair advantage in other markets (office suites, Web browsers, server OS's, e-mail clients, media players, etc.).

This might actually be a good thing for Microsoft, as the company will know where they stand when building a product and shipping a product. If two years after Win7 ships a company cries foul play, Microsoft can point back to this committee.

Unless the net administration has any more teeth than the current, this will not make much difference. All the big players have given up on the US courts as hopelessly ineffective. They just go straight to the EU these days.

Re:I am _so_ calling this one:

[AJWM]

Fine. If, as a libertarian, you don't want government meddling in a company like Microsoft, then I sure that, as a libertarian, you would be happy to remove all the government regulations that prop up a company like Microsoft; limited liability corporate status, for starters.

In this case, though, there is already a judgement against MSFT for antitrust violations, so it's not exactly "preemptive", it's more like Microsoft is on parole, and this is just part of the parole supervision.

Re:Bureaucracy in itself IS bad!

[UnknowingFool]

The problem with Katrina wasn't Katrina itself, it was the idiots who built levees that allowed a city to exist below the natural water level in a zone where hurricanes happen from time to time.

The levees were built over 40 years ago based on the best known estimates at the time. However, over the last 30 years, the Army Core of Engineers has repeatedly warned that they were not adequate and asked for funding to replace the system. Every year, they were told to fix the levees, but when it came time to fund the upgrade, no money was given to them to actually do it.

Re:You're kidding?

[UnknowingFool]

Well if you look at FEMA during the Clinton years, they were effective and did a great job. I think it starts with having an effective leader. Starting in 1992, James Lee Witt was the first FEMA director in its 30 year history to have emergency management experience. Before then FEMA had been a dumping ground for political appointees in search of a cushy job. Under Clinton, Director of FEMA became a cabinet level post. Some of the things that FEMA handled during under Witt:

• 1995 World Trade Center bombing
• 1997 Midwest Red River flood
• Nor Cal earthquake
• Sept 11, 2001

The problem was after Witt left, Bush, forgetting history, replaced him with Joe Allbaugh (Bush's former campaign manager), a political appointee with no experience. When that Allbaugh left, Bush replaced him with Mike Brown, another political appointee with no experience. Today's director R. David Paulison, thankfully has some experience. Now this isn't a anti-Republican slant. Gore, had he been elected, could have made the same mistakes as Bush in appointing a new FEMA director.