The three member panel of Technical Advisers (Technical Committee - TC) to the antitrust regulators which monitor Microsoft"s compliance with a 2002 antitrust settlement will test Windows 7 more thoroughly, according to a status report filed with the federal judge watching over the company.
The 2002 antitrust settlement requires Microsoft to document the communication protocols so that other developers and competitors can design software to work with Windows. Microsoft and State & Federal Antitrust officials are required to deliver regular reports to U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly. On December 5,2008, Microsoft delivered to the TC updated technical documents in anticipation of the release of the Windows 7 beta in which it mentioned that changes to the protocols in Windows 7 required 30 new and 87 revised technical documents.
In response to the December 5th report, TC has made changes to the Windows 7 testing strategy. The status report reads:
In the light of the number of new documents that need to be reviewed, the TC is going to shift its focus to direct review of the documents by the TC"s engineers as the most efficient method of identifying issues with the documentation. The revised strategy will enable the TC to review the new Windows 7 and system documents more thoroughly than it would otherwise, which is particularly desirable given the significance of these new documents to the project as a whole.
Microsoft is also under the constant surveillance of European Union which recently accused Microsoft of breaking antitrust laws by including the company"s Internet Explorer browser with the Windows, which may require Microsoft to install other browsers too and urged Microsoft to follow open web standards.