The case, which is basically the remaining enforcement of longstanding legal settlements between Microsoft, the U.S. Justice Department and several states, still provides for a judge's examination of Microsoft operating systems to see if they meet restrictions that have been placed on the company. According to an update last month by the judge:

On December 5, 2008, Microsoft delivered to the TC (trial court) updated technical documents in anticipation of the release of the Windows 7 beta. Microsoft had previously informed Plaintiffs and the TC that changes to the protocols in Windows 7 would result in a significant number of new and modified technical documents. Indeed, the updated documentation included 30 new technical documents and 87 updated technical documents. In the prior Joint Status Report, Plaintiffs informed the Court that the TC was developing a plan for reviewing these technical documents. After considering the scope of work it will take to review both the updated Windows 7 technical documents and the new system documents that will be produced over the next 5 months, and after consulting with Plaintiffs, the TC has decided to adjust its technical documentation review strategy for maximum efficiency. Up until now, the TC's efforts have largely focused on its prototype implementation and validation efforts designed to test the quality of the technical documents. In light of the number of new documents that need to be reviewed, the TC is going to shift its focus to direct review of the documents by the TC's engineers as the most efficient method of identifying issues with the documentation; the TC will still use validation and prototyping methods to supplement this direct review. The revised strategy will enable the TC to review the new Windows 7 and system documents more thoroughly than it would otherwise, which is particularly desirable given the significance of these new documents to the project as a whole.

The technical documents that will be reviewed by the judge, U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, are part of a set of "system" documents that Microsoft agreed to provide to the court overseeing its antitrust enforcement to monitor "the interaction between the protocols in a number of complex scenarios." The Microsoft antitrust matter is now more than 11 years old.

(Correction: "TC" actually refers to "The Technical Committee," a three-person group of technical experts assigned to assist the Trial Court in antitrust enforcement and by evaluating Microsoft technical documents.)