An article published April 16 in PC World, http://www.pcworld.com/article/163277/doj_asks_for_extension_of_microsoft_antitrust_judgment.html?tk=rss_news, states that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) has asked to extend the antitrust agreement against Microsoft by at least 18 months (May 2011), to give the company enough time to fix problems in technical documentation required in a communications protocols licensing program.
The antitrust order was originally scheduled to expire November 2007, then was extended through November 2009 due to complaints about the state of the technical documentation. Interesting here is that in 2007, the DOJ opposed an extension of the entire judgment but now they are asking to extend it.
Microsoft is not commenting on the request for an extension, but did point to the DOJ and state plaintiffs' statements in their status report that the company has made significant progress in fixing bugs in the documentation, and that the project is nearly complete.
The DOJ's request for an extension may have additional significance. Today, my local paper ran a story that Christine Varney, current head of the Justice Department's antitrust division, will announce a reversal to Bush administration policies that will restore an aggressive enforcement policy against corporations using market dominance to "elbow out competitors or keep them from gaining market share." This would restore a policy that led to the antitrust lawsuits against Microsoft and Intel in the 1990s, and more closely align American antitrust policy on monopolies and predatory practices with the views of antitrust regulators at the European Commission. And we all know how tough the EC has been on Microsoft in the past few years; they've also just announced fines on Intel even higher than those imposed on Microsoft!
The policy change is expected to be bad news for heavyweights in the tech industries such as Google as well as Microsoft. Individuals who have spoken to Varney say she is aiming at agriculture, energy, health care, technology, and telecommunications companies. She may also be reviewing the conduct of some in the financial services industry.
Kerrie Meyler, MVP, MCSE, MCTS, CNA, MA, BA, is an independent consultant and trainer with over fifteen years of experience in IT. While at Microsoft in Field Technical Sales for four years she focused on infrastructure and mangement, presenting at numerous product launches. Kerrie has presented Operations Manager 2007 at TechEd 2007 and MMS 2009 and at internal Microsoft conferences, receiving company recognition and awards including a SPAR MGS award. Kerrie worked with Microsoft Learning to develop functional specifications for the original Operations Manager Microsoft courseware, 2550: Implementing Microsoft Operations Manager 2000 and did the beta teach for that course.She also participated in the alpha walkthrough for the 70-400: Configuring Microsoft System Center Operations Manager certification exam.
She is the lead author of Microsoft Operations Manager 2005 Unleashed, Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 Unleashed, and Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2007 Unleashed. Kerrie is currently developing an eBook on Operations Manager 2007 R2.
Check out an excerpt from System Center Operations Manager 2007 Unleashed, Chapter 3: Looking Inside OpsMgr.
Kerrie's latest book, System Center Configuration Manager (SCCM) 2007 Unleashed by Kerrie Meyler, Byron Holt, and Greg Ramsey has been selected as the August, 2009, Microsoft Subnet book giveaway (a $59.99 value). Check out an excerpt from System Center Configuration (SCCM) Manager 2007 Unleashed, Chapter 3: Looking Inside ConfigMgr.
Visit the Microsoft Subnet home page for giveaway details and entry forms.
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Brilliant!
This is just what we need in the middle of one of the worst economic recessions in the history of the country, lets spend millions (or who knows maybe even billions given the Obama administration's penchant for spending) forcing american companies to defend themselves from government regulators!
Score another one for Obamunism!
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