January 22, 2009

Bugs in Microsoft tech documentation continue to rise

Antitrust oversight finds documentation for Microsoft communication protocols had 1,660 identified bugs as of Dec. 31, with new issues opening faster than Microsoft can close them

The number of bugs in technical documentation for Microsoft communication protocols continues to grow, according to court documents filed for ongoing antitrust oversight of the company in the U.S.

The technical documentation had 1,660 identified bugs as of Dec. 31, up from 1,196 bugs on Nov. 30, according to a Microsoft antitrust status report filed late Wednesday. Microsoft employees identified 613 bugs in December and closed 531 bugs, the court documents said. A technical committee working with Microsoft on compliance with the November 2002 antitrust judgment also identified 517 bugs in the documentation.

[ Keep up on the latest tech news headlines at InfoWorld News, or subscribe to the Today's Headlines newsletter. ]

Problems with the technical documentation remain the major complaint from lawyers representing the group of 19 states that joined the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft. Lawyers for the states have complained repeatedly that technical documentation issues, or TDIs, are opening faster than Microsoft can close them.

In June, there were 1,276 bugs identified. "If you believe Microsoft's resource numbers, they're closing less than one TDI per person per month," Jay Himes, chief of New York's antitrust bureau, said in June. "The fact of the matter is they're identifying more problems than they're closing."

The number of documentation bugs led Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, to extend portions of the antitrust decree by two years in a November 2007 ruling. Microsoft agreed to the extension, and officials there say the company is working to fix problems with the documentation.

Microsoft officials have also suggested that the number of bugs will rise as the company devotes more resources to identifying and fixing them, said Jack Evans, a Microsoft spokesman. Nearly 800 Microsoft employees are working on the technical documentation, according to the court documents filed Wednesday.

There are more than 20,000 pages of technical documentation, the court documents said.

Kollar-Kotelly's 2002 judgment requires Microsoft to license its operating system communication protocols so that other developers can build software that works with Windows.

The U.S. antitrust case is unrelated to one moving forward in Europe. Last week, the European Commission charged Microsoft with monopoly abuse over the way it bundles the Internet Explorer browser with Windows.

Close

On Twitter now

Business

Powered by Twitter

On Twitter now

White Paper

D2D Virtual Tape Library Replication Primer

This whitepaper explains the terminology and concepts behind Data Replication technologies and establishes some sizing rules through worked examples. Learn the new paradigm in disaster tolerance—protect data anywhere.

Download now »

Trial

Free 30-Day Desktop Virtualization Trial

Download a free 30–day trial and experience how XenDesktop delivers a pristine, on–demand desktop experience to users on whatever device they choose, while cutting IT complexity and costs.

Download now »

White Paper

Why Your Firewall, VPN, and IEEE 802.11i Aren't Enough to Protect Your Network

The emergence of WLANs has created a new breed of security threats to enterprise networks.

Included in HP ProCurve WLAN solutions is security technology that alleviates threats from WLANs through:
* Monitoring wireless activity inside and out of the enterprise
* Classifying WLAN transmissions into harmful and harmless
* Preventing transmissions that pose a security threat to the enterprise network
* Locating participating devices for physical remediation

Download now »

Sign up to receive Business Resource Alerts

Subscribe to the Today's Headlines: First Look Newsletter

Find out what will be news for the day, with our first-thing-in-the-morning briefing.

©1994-2009 Infoworld, Inc.