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Microsoft will carry out part of its antitrust settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and nine states even as a U.S. federal judge mulls over whether to accept the settlement or impose stronger terms, the software giant says.

"Microsoft has agreed to implement certain provisions of the settlement agreement while the court process is pending," the Redmond, Washington, company says in a statement on Sunday.

Microsoft has scheduled a conference call on Monday to detail the actions it has taken to date and to talk about its next steps. On the call will be Brad Smith, general counsel and Charlie DeJong, director of business development for the Windows Platform Group.

At Your Service

Microsoft has already acted on the settlement, reached last year. For example, Service Pack 3 for Windows 2000, released to some customers last week, allows users to choose what middleware programs, such as the Web browser and media player, they want to use.

Service Pack 1 for Windows XP, due out this month, will offer similar features, Microsoft has said.

Microsoft reached the settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and nine of the 18 state attorney generals suing it in a landmark antitrust case. The nine non-settling states are pursuing tougher remedies against Microsoft. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly could rule on that case this week.

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