Microsoft agrees to some lengthened US oversight

Microsoft and the Justice Department agreed to extend some portions of federal antitrust oversight by 18 months, to May 2011, according to court papers filed on Thursday. Microsoft settled U.S. antitrust charges in 2002 that it abused its dominance of the market for personal computer operating systems. Court oversight had been scheduled to end on November 12. The Justice Department and states involved in the antitrust suit said in the filing that the November deadline would not give them enough time to assess whether Microsoft had removed all the errors from the technical information it is required to give potential licensees who write programs for Microsoft's Windows.