Microsoft and DoJ reach anti-trust 'settlement'

Microsoft has reportedly agreed to a settlement offered by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) in its marathon anti-trust case against the software company.

According to reports in the Washington Post newspaper, the DoJ will urge the 18 US states that have sued Microsoft to agree to the deal.

Although sources close to the situation warn that the wording of the deal has yet to be finalised, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly is eager for the settlement to be finalised before the two parties return to court on Friday.

The settlement will allegedly see the software giant hand more powers to PC manufacturers to decide how applications are loaded and displayed on Windows machines.

Microsoft will is also expected to have to open up the Windows source code, although it's unclear to what extent.

The paper claims that the deal will expire after five years if Microsoft sticks to the terms, but extended by two years if any portion of the settlement is violated.

A US federal court sent the case back to a lower court this June after the original decision to split the company up for its monopolistic practices was overturned by the Appeals Court in the early days of the Bush administration.