Microsoft and the US Department of Justice (DOJ) "clarify" their proposed settlement based on public feedback, but it's unlikely that the changes will be dramatic. The company said Wednesday that the clarifications to the proposed settlement would be included in a court filing issued late Wednesday, and that filing should become public late Thursday or Friday.
Because the majority of the public feedback to the settlement opposed the deal, Microsoft and the DOJ felt that they must make changes in order to satisfy the judge, who can only accept the deal if she feels that it is in the public interest. This has lead some analysts to predict that the clarifications will include at least one major concession.
But Microsoft has said previously that the DOJ settlement--which is widely regarded by legal analysts and economists as being far too lenient on the software giant--is far-reaching and beyond what it would normally accept, so any changes to the proposal will likely include simple language changes aimed at making certain vague passages clearer.
