Microsoft gives test version of Vista to federal regulatorsMicrosoft Corp. has submitted a test version of its Windows Vista operating system with features that make it easier to use non-Microsoft programs to search PC hard drives, according to a report issued by the Justice Department on Friday.
The report, a regular update on Microsoft's compliance with a 2002 antitrust settlement, said the Redmond, Wash.-based company was on schedule in other areas, including the massive task of rewriting documentation it provides to licensees of its technology.
Microsoft agreed to make changes to Vista in response to antitrust complaints from Google, which in June said Microsoft's hard-drive search program was interfering with Google's own tool.
The Justice Department said preliminary testing shows that the new version, which will let Vista users set a competing search program as their default and see it in the Windows Start menu, operates as expected.
The changes will be available in Service Pack 1, a package of upgrades and fixes expected in the first quarter of 2008, the Justice Department said.
The department also said in its report that it is looking into differences between original technical documentation and rewritten versions from Microsoft, and that it is testing fixes Microsoft made to some software.
Microsoft has been the subject of antitrust investigations since the early 1990s.
The federal government and many states sued the technology giant, and the court found Microsoft was using its operating system dominance to quash other types of competing software, including Netscape's Web browser.
This led to a 2002 settlement and a consent decree that says Microsoft must help rivals build software that runs smoothly on Windows, among other conditions.
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