The problems were brought up during hearings regarding the 2001 antitrust settlement.WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp was criticized on Tuesday for
being slow to resolve problems in the technical documentation it was
required to provide to rival software makers as part of its 2001
antitrust settlement.
The problems were a major part of discussions at a hearing held to
review Microsoft's compliance with the pact that settled findings the
company had abused its dominance in personal computer operating systems.
Microsoft was required to issue licenses for companies who want to
write programs for the Windows computer operating system, and also
provide technical information about Windows to help make the programs
work.
The Justice Department and states, who were also party to the
antitrust suit, complained that Microsoft had acted too slowly in
resolving technical information problems, known as "technical document
issues" or TDIs.
"It's clear that the TDIs are not declining," said Jay Himes, chief
of the New York attorney general's antitrust bureau. Himes estimated
that each Microsoft employee working on the problems cleared one per
month.
Microsoft said it was convinced the issue would be resolved. "There
are TDIs but I thought everyone agreed that there would be TDIs" for as
long as the oversight was in place, Microsoft attorney Rick Rule told
the interim compliance hearing before District Judge Colleen
Kollar-Kotelly.
There were 1,276 outstanding TDIs in the 20,000 page document, said
Microsoft spokesman David Bowermaster. "We're doing our best to close
them as fast as we identify them," he said.
A full compliance hearing has been set for September 25.
(Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)
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