Windows 7 Examined for Antitrust ComplianceWindows 7 Examined for Antitrust Compliance

The Technical Committee established by the court to monitor Microsoft's compliance with the 2002 antitrust settlement has begun reviewing Windows 7 to make sure it complies with the terms of the settlement.A joint status report filed by the committee revealed that it had recently received a build of Windows 7 and was undertaking tests to see if it violates the settlement agreement. "Microsoft recently supplied the TC [Technical Committee] with a build of Windows 7, and is discussing TC testing going forward," said the report. "The TC will conduct middleware-related tests on future builds of Windows 7," the report added.

Of particular interest to the committee is whether Windows 7 favors Microsoft applications over third-party software, a key complaint in the original antitrust case. The government's oversight is scheduled to expire in 2009, one year before the expected release date of Windows 7, so the committee is trying to learn as much about the OS as possible while it can.

The status report also noted that certain patches in Vista SP1 brought the current OS into greater compliance with the settlement agreement.The Register, information