Microsoft Corp. is behind schedule in complying with a court order to document its proprietary communications protocols, according to U.S. authorities monitoring its behavior. It also plans to release the documents in a file format that cannot be annotated, and can only be used with Microsoft"s Internet Explorer browser, they said in a report published Friday.
Microsoft will review the documentation format and suggest alternatives within 60 days, it said Friday in a report authored with the U.S. Department of Justice, 16 states and the District of Columbia, the plaintiffs in the U.S. government"s antitrust case against the company.
The joint status report is one of a series requested regularly by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to monitor Microsoft"s compliance with the final judgment in the antitrust case. The judgment requires Microsoft to document and license its software communications protocols, and to revise the terms under which it licenses its Windows operating system to PC makers, among other things.