Microsoft to share some of its secrets The company, in an attempt to address the concerns of European regulators, said it will be disclosing some technical information about its products to make them more compatible with competing software.
Microsoft said it will, among other actions, publish on its site documentation for communications protocols for widely used software such as the Windows Vista operating system and Office publishing software, essentially making it easier for other programs to communicate with the software. "Our goal is to promote greater interoperability, opportunity and choice for customers and developers throughout the industry by making our products more open and by sharing even more information about our technologies," CEO Steve Ballmer said in a release. Europe's antitrust regulators expressed skepticism, however, saying in a response Thursday they "would welcome any move towards genuine interoperability" but noting that Microsoft had issued "at least four similar statements" in the past. In January, the European Commission initiated two formal antitrust investigations against the company, one related to interoperability and the other relating to the bundling of separate software products together, such as tying Internet Explorer to Windows Vista. The Commission said it would have to verify whether Thursday's announcement, if implemented, would end any alleged interoperability infringements, but said the announcement does not address the tying allegations. Microsoft said it will: - Publish more than 30,000 pages of information about Windows client and server interfaces on Thursday. The documents were previously available only under a trade secret licence. - Publish documentation for other high-volume products, such as Office 2007, in the coming months. - Make clear on its website which protocols are covered by patents and "license all of these patents on reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, at low royalty rates." - Promise not to sue developers who use the protocols for non-commercial purposes. - Document how it supports industry-wide standards to promote compatibility so outside developers can ensure their products work together. - Change the Word, Excel and PowerPoint applications in Office 2007 to allow users to choose other document formats. The company also said it had adopted new interoperability principles in its high-volume business products, including: - Ensuring open connections. - Promoting data portability. - Supporting industry standards. - Fostering "more open engagement" with customers and the industry. The company said the Interoperability Executive Customer Council, which includes chief information and technology officers from more than 40 companies and government bodies, will help Microsoft implement the changes.
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