Microsoft Corp expects to reach licensing agreements with competitors, amid complaints that the company isn't fulfilling its obligations under its antitrust settlement, Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer said.
Competitors have claimed the world's largest computer software maker has violated the settlement by not disclosing code they need to write programs that run on Microsoft's Windows operating system. A federal judge in Washington approved the antitrust settlement on Nov. 1, ending a decade of legal fighting that once threatened the software giant with breakup.
The company is "super-focused on 100 percent compliance" with the settlement, Ballmer said during a speech at the Brookings Institution, a think tank in Washington. He didn't identify any of the companies that he said were in talks with Microsoft.
"We put a lot of very careful thought into the licensing offers," Ballmer said. "We are in active discussions with a number of companies about licensing" the technology.
"We have taken a number of steps to disclose additional technical details about Windows and to make the design and contractual changes required by the decree," Ballmer said.
Microsoft's settlement with the US government requires it to disclose to competitors the programming protocols needed to enable those companies to write programs that work with Windows.
Ballmer said the company has already taken numerous steps to adapt to the settlement's obligations, including establishing an Antitrust Compliance Committee.
The settlement also requires Microsoft to give the top 20 computer makers identical contract terms for licensing Windows, which powers 95 percent of the world's personal computers. The company can give discounts on the basis of sales volume and participation in agreements to market Windows.
The accord also requires Microsoft to give computer makers more freedom to promote competing software products such as RealNetworks Inc's RealOne Player. The Redmond, Washington-based company is required to post the prices for the Windows license on an Internet site accessible to the computer makers.
RSS