UNITED STATES OF AMERICA et al v. MICROSOFT CORPORATION

Filing 874

STATUS REPORT Supplemental by MICROSOFT CORPORATION. (Rule, Charles)

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA et al v. MICROSOFT CORPORATION

Doc. 87

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, Plaint iff, v. MICROSOFT CORPORATION, Defendant. Civil Action No. 98-1232 (CKK) Next Court Deadline: May 15, 2008 Supplemental Status Report

SUPPLEMENTAL STATUS REPORT ON MICROSOFT'S COMPLIANCE WITH THE FINAL JUDGMENTS Microsoft hereby files its Monthly Supplemental Status Report regarding its compliance with the Final Judgments. This Supplemental Status Report details Microsoft's progress in revising the technical documentation in connection with the Microsoft Communications Protocol Program ("MCPP") and other Windows-related matters. I. Microsoft's Progress in Modifying the Technical Documentation As previously reported, Microsoft has delivered all of the Milestones associated with the "rewrite" program. In addition to this documentation, Microsoft has produced addit ional overview/reference materials in order to assist licensees in using the technical documentation. While Microsoft firmly believes that the current protocol documentation available to implementers is fully useable and complies completely with the Final Judgments, in response to the Technical Committee's ("TC's") request, Microsoft is undertaking to supplement the existing overview documents with addit ional "System" documents.1 As part of this process, Microsoft
1

Microsoft and the TC's engineers have come to refer to these documents as "System" documents. In the February Joint Status Report, these documents were referred to as "additional overview documents" by the Plaintiffs and "Subsystem" documents by Microsoft. All of these terms refer to the same set of materials. All parties will refer to these as "System documents" going forward.

Dockets.Justia.com

has delivered three initial System documents to the TC. Among other reasons, these initial drafts were created by Microsoft to facilitate discussions between Microsoft and the TC regarding the template that Microsoft will use to create the remaining System documents. Once the template is finalized, and the overall scope of the project is defined, Microsoft will be in a position to provide an estimated schedule to the Plaintiffs and the Court. Microsoft currently is awaiting feedback from the TC on these initial drafts. In the February Jo int Status Report, Microsoft reported that some additional work needed to be done in order to incorporate the TC's feedback resulting from Microsoft's recent protocol audit. This additional work has been completed and did not result in any other MCPP protocols being discovered. The seven new protocols that were previously identified through the audit are now in the process of being added to the MCPP. A. Current Status of Microsoft's Progress in Resolving Technical Documentation Issues ("TDIs") through March 31, 2007

As noted in previous Status Reports, Microsoft worked to address TDIs in the old technical documentation in the course of rewriting the new technical documentation. All TDIs from the old documentation now have been closed or are being addressed through related TDIs in the rewritten documentation. Microsoft believes that its substantial progress in addressing TDIs in the old documentation is an indication that the rewrite project is on course to achieve its goals. As explained previously, in light of the volume and complexity of the new technical documentation, it is inevitable that additional TDIs will emerge in the newly rewritten documentation. As part of its analysis, the TC is identifying TDIs in the new Online Build documentation according to the three priority levels that were described in the March 6, 2007 Joint Status Report. The current status of TDIs identified in rewritten documentation through March 31, 2008, is noted in the chart below. The total number of TDIs spans the entire range of 2

rewritten documentation as well as some of the overview materials and should be considered in the context of more than 20,000 pages of MCPP technical documentation.2

New Documentation TDIs

As of 1/31/2008

Period Ended 3/31/2008

Priority 1 TDIs Submitted by the TC Submitted this period Closed this period Outstanding Priority 2 TDIs Submitted by the TC Submitted this period Closed this period Outstanding Priority 3 TDIs Submitted by the TC Submitted this period Closed this period Outstanding TC Submitted TC Closed TC Outstanding TDIs Identified by Microsoft3 Ident ified this period Closed this period Microsoft Outstanding TDIs Identified by Licensees4
2

98

34 31 101 211 244 204 65 121 58 310 396 363 746 627 474

237

114

449

355

The TDI numbers as of January 31, 2007, reported in this chart differ slightly from the numbers provided in the previous Status Report because the dynamic nature of tracking TDIs in multiple databases occasionally results in categorization and exact TDI closure dates changing after the previous reporting period. Microsoft originally provided information on TDIs opened by licensees separately from TDIs opened by Microsoft. As licensees generally did not open TDIs themselves (Microsoft instead opened the TDIs on their behalf), at Plaintiffs' request, Microsoft changed its reporting to provide information on TDIs identified by Microsoft and by licensees together. Plaintiffs now have requested that Microsoft segregate TDIs identified by licensees, including those TDIs identified by licensees but opened by Microsoft on their behalf. In most cases, licensees do not open TDIs themselves. Licensees generally ask Microsoft questions about the documentation. Most questions do not result in any TDIs. In some cases, questions from licensees result in a TDI being filed by the Microsoft employees involved in answering the licensees questions. In these circumstances, Microsoft categorizes the TDI as a licensee TDI.

3

4

3

Ident ified this period Closed this period Licensees Outstanding TDIs Identified by the TC in Overview/Reference Materials5 Ident ified this period Closed this period Overview Outstanding Total Outstanding II. Technical Documentation Testing A. Protocol Test Suite

8

10 8 10

72 884

29 40 61 908

Since the previous Status Report, Microsoft has continued its efforts to test the newly rewritten protocol documentation. Microsoft completed its testing on Cluster 5, during which Microsoft completed test passes on 32 documents. As is the normal practice, Microsoft and the TC will meet to review the results of this Cluster. Microsoft has begun testing of Cluster 6. B. Interoperability Lab

On August 30, 2006, Microsoft announced to MCPP licensees the availability, at no charge, of Microsoft's Interoperability Lab in the Microsoft Enterprise Engineering Center for testing licensee implementations of MCPP protocols. The Interoperability Lab offers direct access to Microsoft product development teams and technical support from Microsoft's engineering staff to address issues that may arise during testing. Microsoft completed one interoperability lab with one licensee during March 2008. An additional licensee is scheduled to attend the interoperability lab in April 2008.

5

At the request of the Plaintiffs, Microsoft has included the number of outstanding TDIs identified by the TC in the overview/reference materials that Microsoft is producing in the above chart. The TDIs identified in the overview/reference materials do not include TDIs identified in System Documents (of which there are none currently). Microsoft will report any such System TDIs separately from the overview/reference materials.

4

C.

Plug-fests

Microsoft held a Firewall/Proxy plug-fest for three licensees as well as another company during February 2008. Microsoft also is planning a file-sharing plug-fest for June 2008. Additionally, Microsoft is planning two plug-fests for later in 2008 (for Media Streaming and Active Directory licensees). III. Technical Documentation Team Staffing Robert Muglia, the Senior Vice President for Microsoft's Server and Tools Business, continues to manage the documentation effort along with additional senior product engineering team managers. Approximately 750 Microsoft employees and contingent staff are involved in work on the MCPP technical documentation. Given the substantial overlap between the MCPP and the European Work Group Server Protocol Program, all of these individuals devote their efforts to work that relates to both programs or that is exclusive to the MCPP. Of these, approximately 320 product team engineers and program managers are actively involved in the creation and review of the technical content of the documentation. There are approximately 28 full-t ime employees and over 47 contingent staff working as technical writers, editors, and production technicians Additionally, as the protocol testing effort continues, approximately 37 full-t ime employees and approximately 320 contingent and vendor staff work as software test designers, test engineers, and test architects. Significant attention to and involvement in the technical documentation and the MCPP extend through all levels of the Microsoft organization and draw upon the resources of numerous product engineering, business, technical, and legal groups, as well as company management.

5

IV.

Windows Vista and XP Related Matters The TC has identified an issue related to how user defaults and icons are displayed when

the same default is first set using Set User Defaults and then set using Set Program Access and Defaults. Microsoft is examining this issue and working to develop a course of action. Dated: April 15, 2008 Respect fully submitted, FOR DEFENDANT MICROSOFT CORPORATION /s/ CHARLES F. RULE CHARLES F. RULE (DC BAR No. 370818) JONATHAN S. KANTER (DC BAR No. 473286) Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP 1201 F Street, NW Washington, DC 20004 [phone] BRADFORD L. SMITH MARY SNAPP DAVID A. HEINER, JR. Microsoft Corporation One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052 [phone] STEVE L. HOLLEY RICHARD C. PEPPERMAN II Sullivan & Cromwell LLP 125 Broad Street New York, NY 10004 [phone]

6