In a surprise move today, District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, who has been overseeing Microsoft's antitrust compliance in the case of the United States vs Microsoft announced that she needs more time to actually think about whether Redmond should be subjected to a lengthier period of antitrust policing (as opposed to issuing decisions without thinking at all, as per government modus operandi). As we reported a couple of weeks ago, Microsoft had recently come under scrutiny by several states looking to extend the government oversight of Microsoft to ensure that they remained non-monopolistic in behavior.
Analysts say that Judge Kollar-Kotelly is expected to sign off on the new schedule eventually without incident, which will then add another five years to the government policing of Microsoft business strategy, ensuring a Microsoft monopoly will never scourge American business horizons ever again.
All this in spite of the fact that the Justice Department has publicly stated it does not believe there is any need to extend the oversight period. However, a certain 10 states persist in pushing the initiative forward, so it looks like it will continue. Still, it is interesting to note that it's now twice in one day that the US Government has made an intelligent move in terms of its technology decisions.
[via CNet]