A computer science professor says Microsoft Corp. has the ability to create and release a modular version of the Windows operating system so computer makers can swap out Microsoft functions for competitors' programs. Microsoft has maintained that it would be impossible to create a stripped-down Windows because so many portions of it are dependent on others. Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer has said that the requirement, a key proposal by the nine states seeking antitrust penalties from the company, would force Microsoft to take Windows off the market. Read more...

Princeton University professor Andrew Appel said in written testimony that modular design is an accepted standard in the industry, and Microsoft has already created a version of Windows for interactive television boxes that has removable functions. Windows XP Embedded, created for use in television set boxes, supports all of the same features of Windows XP for desktop computers. Unlike the desktop version, however, products like Internet Explorer are removable. "Microsoft's technical ability to create XP Embedded [...] is another piece of evidence not only that [...] the states' remedy is technical feasible," Appel wrote, "but that Microsoft has already done much of the engineering work necessary to comply with this provision." Source: The News Tribune