Here's something Microsoft probably didn't want more of: government oversight of Windows development. Windows 7 already is being reviewed by U.S. government technical appointees, something many Microsoft executives probably couldn't have much imagined happening a year ago.
Under the terms of Microsoft's November 2001 Justice Department settlement and final court judgment issued about a year later, a government-sanctioned "Technical Committee" has overseen Windows development. The TC is responsible for ensuring that Microsoft complies with the terms of the final judgment, investigating complaints about Microsoft abuses and regularly reporting on the company's compliance.
The TC required some changes before the operating system's release. Each quarter, the Justice Department, Microsoft and states' attorneys general file a joint "status report," largely based on the TC's activities. The process should have mostly ended on Nov. 12. But Google (and some other Microsoft competitors) requested an extension, and U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly gave it to them: two more years of government oversight.
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