Plaintiff States California, Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the District of Columbia (“California Group”)1 respectfully submit this Report on Remedial Effectiveness.

Updated at 4:00 p.m. PDT: In something of a surprise move, four state attorneys general who previously praised the effectiveness of Microsoft's antitrust settlement with the feds said they're not ready to see five years of oversight wind down just yet.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly issued a ruling this evening extending the expiring terms of Microsoft's U.S. antitrust consent decree until Nov. 12, 2009, two years from the previous expiration date. California, New York and other states had been asking for a five-year extension; Microsoft had argued that none was needed.

A number of states including California and New York filed legal briefs Friday supporting their earlier request to extend the government's restrictive antitrust oversight of Microsoft Corp. The states said in a court filing that extended oversight of the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant is necessary for "meaningful marketplace competition."

A group of states led by California said in a court filing Thursday that ending oversight of Microsoft's business practices in November would not allow enough time to consider the antitrust implications of Windows Vista

As many believe, web users and innovators emerged winners upon the completion of the European Commission’s investigation into Microsoft’s browser-bundling practices. Microsoft will now offer users of Windows XP, Windows Vista and Windows 7 a screen presenting a choice of Web browsers.

"...The complaint describes how Microsoft is abusing its dominant position by tying its browser, Internet Explorer, to the Windows operating system and by hindering interoperability by not following accepted Web standards..."

Antitrust regulators are evaluating the forthcoming Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8 as part of ongoing activities to ensure Microsoft is in compliance with the final judgment in two landmark antitrust cases that involved individual states and the U.S. government.

Mozilla has taken a position on the European Union's proposed settlement with Microsoft about browser integration in Windows 7. Both Mozilla Foundation's Mitchell Baker and Mozilla's general counsel feel that Microsoft is benefiting all too well from the settlement.