Microsoft Abides by EC Requests on Vista

Published: October 18, 2006

by Alex Woodie

Microsoft has adopted the recommendations of the European Commission on how Windows Vista should be developed to keep the operating system from shutting out competitors. The software giant says it will make changes in three key areas, including security, search, and the new XML Paper Specification (XPS) document standard, which will keep it in the good graces of the EC and keep the European launch of Windows Vista on track for next month.

Earlier this year, the EC started looking into Windows Vista to determine if the new operating system was abiding by past EC judgments, and to make sure that new features of the operating system wouldn't hurt competition. According to Microsoft, the EC submitted 79 questions to Microsoft, and the two sides worked through the summer to find solutions.

Then, in September, the EC raised three more issues with Microsoft about Vista, concerning security, search, and XPS. In terms of search, the EC was concerned that Windows XP users migrating to IE 7 in Vista would be restricted in selecting a search engine of their choice. It was also concerned that XPS was a proprietary standard and that it would hurt adoption of Adobe's PDF format.

The EC had two security concerns. The first was that Microsoft was positioning its own Security Center, a part of the operating system, as the de-facto standard console for controlling security settings of Windows computers. The second had to do with PatchGuard, a new feature in 64-bit versions of Windows Vista that prevents malware writers and security software vendors from modifying the kernel.

Microsoft addressed each of these three concerns. To satisfy the unease with the Security Center, Microsoft has committed to providing a new API that allows third-party vendors to control where security alerts are sent, and to prevent the system from sending the same alerts to the Security Center console and a third-party console, if one's been installed. In effect, it ensures that security products from vendors like Symantec and McAfee maintain their position as the go-to consoles when Windows Vista users have security issues.

Microsoft is also making changes to ensure that antivirus vendors can co-exist the new PatchGuard function. "We were concerned that it would be a mistake for the future of computers if PatchGuard were to be removed or eliminated," Microsoft chief counsel Brad Smith said at a press conference Friday. "We devised a new engineering approach that will create and extend new kernel-level APIs so that PatchGuard will be retained, the security of the kernel will be protected, and yet security vendors will have an opportunity to meet their needs through these kernel level API extensions."

To satisfy the EC's other worries, Microsoft committed to submitting its new XPS specification to a standards body, although the software giant has yet to do so. Microsoft also assured the EC that Windows users will be free to pick their Web search engine of choice when upgrading from Windows XP to Windows Vista.

"Having made each of these changes, the company and [Microsoft CEO] Steve Ballmer felt comfortable moving forward and felt confident that we are in compliance with our EU competition law obligations," Smith said. "He and Commissioner [Nellie] Kroes had a conversation yesterday, in which Steve confirmed that we would make Windows Vista available in Europe."

The Korea Fair Trade Commission had also raised some concerns about Windows Vista, but those have been smoothed out, too. "We have had discussions with the Korea Fair Trade Commission (KFTC) about the specific design issues for Windows Vista, based on which we believe that we are in a position to move forward and ensure that Windows Vista will be available in Korea at the same time as everywhere else."

Windows Vista is on track for worldwide delivery to business customers next month, and to consumers in January.

While these areas have been smoothed over, Microsoft and the EC could still have disagreement over some aspects of Vista. Just two weeks ago, the EC widened its probe of Vista again to determine if new encryption and handwriting recognition capabilities in Vista will hurt competition.

Microsoft recognizes that there could be more bumps down the road. "We recognize that the European Commission does not give 'green lights' for new products, and we have not asked for one," Smith says. "We appreciate the constructive dialogue we have had with the commission and the guidance the commission has provided."

The conciliatory tone was a change for Microsoft, which has butted heads with the European regulatory body since it fined the software giant for anti-competitive behavior in March 2004, and again earlier this year for non compliance with that March 2004 ruling.

Despite the new tone, the EC says Microsoft won't be seeing green. "The commission has not given a 'green light' to Microsoft to deliver Vista because, as the commission has consistently stated, Microsoft must shoulder its own responsibilities to ensure that Vista is fully compliant with EC treaty competition rules and in particular with the principles laid down in the March 2004 Commission antitrust decision concerning Microsoft."

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