Microsoft Corp agreed to modify some photography features on its Windows XP operating system in response to complaints by Eastman Kodak Co.
Microsoft will make it easier for users to choose rival photography software, and will identify the Windows XP program that allows downloading of photos from a camera or the Internet as a Microsoft product, the companies said.
Windows XP will list all photography programs installed on a computer when users plug in digital cameras. The operating system previously offered only Microsoft's. Kodak complained that its software should pop up automatically for users of the company's digital cameras.
"Kodak has always asked that the software that's shipped with that camera and that the consumer installed would be launched when that camera was installed," Kodak spokesman Anthony Sanzio said. "We didn't think Microsoft should be interrupting that process."
Microsoft changed a dialogue box that appears when consumers try to download photos, spokesman Jim Cullinan said. Windows XP, which is to be shipped Oct. 25, had required users to click an icon to get a list of non-Microsoft software programs. Now the list appears automatically.
"We made some minor changes to a dialogue box so there was no confusion among consumers about the options they had," Cullinan said.
At Kodak's request, Windows XP will identify the "camera and scanner wizard" as a Microsoft product, Cullinan said. The wizard doesn't allow users to manipulate photos, as do rival programs made by Kodak or Adobe Systems Inc, he said.
US Senator Charles Schumer said the government should block the release of Windows XP unless Microsoft makes changes that allow consumers to more easily use applications made by competitors. A federal court ruled that Microsoft has illegally protected its Windows operating-system monopoly.
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