UNITED STATES OF AMERICA et al v. MICROSOFT CORPORATION Doc.

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IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT

FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,

Plaintiff, Civil Action No. 98-1232 (CKK)

v. Next Court Deadline: June 19, 2007

Joint Status Report
MICROSOFT CORPORATION,

Defendant.

SUPPLEMENTAL STATUS REPORT ON

MICROSOFT’S COMPLIANCE WITH THE FINAL JUDGMENTS

Microsoft hereby files its Monthly Supplemental Status Report regarding 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 explained in detail in Microsoft’s February 15, 2007 Supplemental Status Report and

the March 6, 2007 Joint Status Report, Microsoft is proceeding under the following schedule for

the Initial Availability release of the revised MCPP documentation:

Dockets.Justia.com
 Initial
Number of
Milestone Availability to
Documents1
Licensees
Milestone 1 Delivered 31

Milestone 2 Delivered 24

Milestone 3 Delivered 38

Longhorn Milestone Delivered 29

Milestone 4 Delivered 34

Milestone 5 7/20/2007 39

Since the previous Status Report, Microsoft delivered the Initial Availability Milestone 4

documents as planned on May 11, 2007. Microsoft is on track to produce the Initial Availability

Milestone 5 documents. Microsoft delivered the Online Build documentation for Milestones 1

and 2 on January 19, 2007 and March 3, 2007, respectively, and is on track to deliver the Online

Build documentation for Milestone 3 on June 1, 2007. The remaining Online Build

documentation is scheduled to be delivered as follows: Longhorn Milestone on July 3, 2007;

Milestone 4 on August 10, 2007; and Milestone 5 on September 28, 2007.

Microsoft also is continuing its ongoing work to provide an XML markup of the technical

documentation that the Technical Committee and Mr. Hunt (collectively referred to as the “TC”)

plan to use in connection with their internal testing efforts. As mentioned in the previous
Supplemental Status Report, Microsoft has hired an additional senior engineer to assist with this

project. Since the previous report, Microsoft and the TC have been engaged in a constructive

dialogue regarding the XML markup and significant progress has been made. Microsoft has

reduced significantly the outstanding XML markup issues raised by the TC and is addressing

1 As explained in previous status reports, the precise number of documents that Microsoft plans to produce in
connection with the MCPP documentation is likely to be adjusted as the documentation is being rewritten
and the project moves toward completion. Accordingly, the number of documents to be produced as part of
Milestone 5 has been adjusted from 40 to 39. These adjustments will not affect Microsoft’s ability to meet
the schedule. Future minor adjustments remain possible.

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newly found issues. On April 18, 2007, the TC shared its XML markup parsing tools with

Microsoft. These tools have proven to be valuable to Microsoft in its efforts to modify the XML

markup that was previously provided by Microsoft and should facilitate the process of preparing

future submissions as well.

As the TC’s testing work is an evolving project, Microsoft’s efforts to revise the XML

markup will be ongoing as well. Accordingly, Microsoft will continue to modify the XML

markup as the TC’s testing work moves forward and as new information and changes are

requested.
In addition, as Microsoft documents the many protocols it already has identified, it

continues to explore in greater detail the functionality of its client and server software. As part

of this work, Microsoft has concluded that two additional protocols should be included in the

MCPP. Microsoft brought these two additional protocols to the attention of the TC during a

meeting on May 1, 2007. These protocols offer limited functionality that Microsoft originally

did not believe to be within the scope of the MCPP. Upon further review and with the benefit of

knowledge and experience gained during the documentation process, however, Microsoft now

has determined that the two protocols should be added to the MCPP and will be documented in

the upcoming Milestone 5.2 The addition of these two protocols will not impact the schedule for

delivery of the rewritten documentation.

A. Current Status of Microsoft’s Progress in Resolving Technical Documentation

Issues (“TDIs”) through March 31, 2007
As noted in previous Status Reports, Microsoft is working to address the TDIs in the old

technical documentation in the course of rewriting the new technical documentation.

2 The additional protocols are RASADV Multicast Announcement and the IManagedObject Interface.
RASADV involves a remote access server (“RAS”) server “broadcasting” itself to a local network so that
an administrator can locate it and fix any misconfiguration. The engineers responsible for this technology
originally believed that the functionality was limited to server products, but later discovered that the
Windows client had a very simple “receiver” that could pick up the broadcast and display it on the client
screen. IManagedObject is a protocol that identifies whether code is “managed” or “unmanaged.” The
responsible engineers originally believed that the functionality involved was local only, but later discovered
that it could involve communications between computers.

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Accordingly, Microsoft will review the Online Build documentation for each Milestone as it is

produced to ensure that all previously existing TDIs relating to that Milestone (including those

that were previously closed and those that were not addressed in the old documentation) are

addressed. Based on this review, Microsoft now has closed all of the TDIs addressed by the

Milestone 1 and Milestone 2 documentation.

The current status of TDIs in the old documentation for the previous month is set forth

below. Overall, the total number of outstanding old TDIs has continued to drop as Microsoft

anticipated at the beginning of the rewrite project.

Period
As of
Old Document TDIs Ended
3/31/2007
4/30/2007
60-Day TDIs Submitted by the TC
Submitted this period 0
Closed this period 7
Outstanding 124 117
Other TDIs Submitted by the TC
Submitted this period 0
Closed this period 3
Outstanding 474 471
TC Subtotal Outstanding 598 588
TDIs Identified by Microsoft
Identified this period 0
Closed this period 67
Outstanding 89 30
Total Outstanding 687 618

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 Microsoft will continue to update the Court regarding its progress in resolving TDIs from

the old documentation. Moreover, the TC will continue to identify TDIs in the old

documentation that has not yet been rewritten.

Given the volume and complexity of the new technical documentation, it is inevitable

that additional TDIs will emerge in the newly rewritten documentation, even as TDIs in the old

documentation are being resolved. The TC will identify all TDIs in the new Online Build

documentation according to the three priority levels that were described in the March 6, 2007

Joint Status Report. In addition to TDIs identified by the TC, Microsoft will continue to track
and report the number of TDIs that have been self-identified through Microsoft’s testing efforts,

as well as those submitted by licensees.

The current status of TDIs identified in rewritten documentation through March 31, 2007

is noted in the chart below.

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 Period
As of Ended
Rewritten Document TDIs 3/31/20073 4/30/2007
Priority 1 TDIs Submitted by the TC
Submitted this period 10
Closed this period 12
Outstanding 32 30
Priority 2 TDIs Submitted by the TC
Submitted this period 21
Closed this period 33
Outstanding 108 96
Priority 3 TDIs Submitted by the TC
Submitted this period 9
Closed this period 26
Outstanding 72 55

TC Submitted 40
TC Closed 71
TC Outstanding 212 181

TDIs Identified by Microsoft

Identified this period 44
Closed this period 76
Microsoft Outstanding 196 164
TDIs Identified by Licensees
Identified this period 0
Closed this period 0
Licensee Outstanding 0 0
Total Outstanding 413 345

II. Technical Documentation Testing

A. Protocol Test Suite

Microsoft completed its development of a preliminary cluster of test suites by the target

date of March 31, 2007. Microsoft is continuing its work on scheduling and producing

3 The TDI numbers as of March 31, 2007 reported in this chart differ slightly from the numbers provided in
the previous Status Report because the dynamic nature of synchronizing both the TC’s and Microsoft’s TDI
databases occasionally results in priority levels and exact TDI closure dates changing after the previous
reporting period.

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additional clusters of test suites on a quarterly basis. The protocols to be included in the

quarterly releases will be prioritized to correspond to the release of the rewritten technical

documentation and to emphasize those protocols that are likely to be of greatest value to

licensees. The next cluster of work is on track to be completed by the end of June.

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 has conducted a

series of in-person visits to most licensees in order to promote the availability of these services.

One Proxy/Firewall licensee has scheduled a visit to the Interoperability Lab during June 2007,

and two licensees are in the process of scheduling dates for participation. One of these is a File

Sharing licensee that plans to visit the lab during the second half of 2007. Several Licensees

toured the Interoperability Lab and met the staff while attending the File Sharing plug-fest held

from April 30 to May 4, 2007.

C. Plug-fests

As noted in previous Status Reports, Microsoft hosted its first plug-fest, which was for
licensees of the Media Streaming Protocols, on December 12-14, 2006. The File Server

Protocols plug-fest took place in Redmond on April 30-May 3, 2007. Four licensees (18 people)

attended this event. Seven members of the TC’s staff and Craig Hunt also took part as registered

participants and had the opportunity to hold private, scheduled conversations with licensees.

Feedback on the plug-fest has been very positive. Finally, the initial Authentication and

Certificate Services Protocols plug-fest will be held during the third quarter of 2007. Additional

plug-fest events are being considered, and planning for these future events will reflect the

feedback received from licensees.

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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.

Altogether, approximately 320 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 150 product team engineers and program managers are actively involved in the

creation and review of the technical content of the documentation. In addition, there are

approximately 24 full-time employees and 46 contingent staff working as technical writers,

editors, and production technicians. In addition, as the protocol testing effort has started, there

are now approximately 20 full-time employees and approximately 80 contingent staff and vendor

staff working as software test designers, test engineers, and test architects. Significant attention

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.

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 IV. Windows Vista and XP Related Matters

As reported in its previous supplemental status report, Microsoft has been working

cooperatively to address a number of changes requested by the TC concerning Windows XP, the

OEM Preinstallation Kit, and other Microsoft applications, regardless of whether these requests

relate to Microsoft's middleware and default obligations under Sections III.C and III.H of the

Final Judgments. Microsoft and the TC have been meeting weekly to work towards resolutions

in these areas. Microsoft will update the Court on its continuing efforts with the TC in future

reports.

Dated: May 15, 2007

Respectfully submitted,

FOR DEFENDANT
MICROSOFT CORPORATION

/s/ CHARLES F. RULE

CHARLES F. RULE (DC BAR No. 370818)
Cadwalader, Wickersham & Taft LLP
1201 F Street, NW
Washington, DC 20004
(202) 862-2420

BRADFORD L. SMITH
MARY SNAPP
DAVID A. HEINER, JR.
Microsoft Corporation
One Microsoft Way
Redmond, WA 98052
(425) 936-8080

STEVE L. HOLLEY
RICHARD C. PEPPERMAN II
Sullivan & Cromwell LLP
125 Broad Street
New York, NY 10004
(212) 558-4000