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Microsoft is increasing the openness of its software to appease
antitrust regulators and please businesses trending toward more
diverse computer systems.
Microsoft said Thursday it is making
"broad-reaching changes" to its technology and business
practices to enhance the ease with which its software interacts with
partners, customers and competitors.
"These steps represent an important step
and significant change in how we share information about our
products and technologies," said Microsoft chief executive
Steve Ballmer.
"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."
The US software giant has been gradually
shedding its historically protective mindset regarding intellectual
property as Microsoft veterans retire and new blood is hired,
according to Silicon Valley analyst Rob Enderle.
"There has been an incremental shift in
Microsoft's internal thinking that was given a significant jolt by
the European Union," Enderle told AFP.
"The underpinnings for the decision are
continued frustration with trying to find ways to keep the EU happy
and more pressure from customers."
Microsoft's newly announced principles apply to
all its top-selling software and fit a patent framework addressed by
European courts, said Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith.
"Microsoft is taking all necessary steps to
make sure we are in full compliance with European law," Smith
said in a conference call.
"The interoperability announcement
represents the changed legal landscape for Microsoft and the
technology industry."
EU competition regulators responded with a
skeptical statement that "takes note" of Microsoft's
"intention" to improve the compatibility of its software
with rival products, but still voiced antitrust concerns.
"This announcement does not relate to the
question of whether or not Microsoft has been complying with EU
antitrust rules in this area in the past," the European
Commission said.
The commission has long accused Microsoft of
abusing its dominant market power by making software that is
incompatible with products made by its rivals.
EU regulators slapped a fine of nearly 500
million euros (741 million dollars) on Microsoft in 2004 for abusing
its dominant market power.
A new European Commissions investigation targets
the interoperability of a broad range of software, including
Microsoft's popular Office package, with rival products.
Microsoft posted more than 30,000 pages of
previously safeguarded software protocol information online for
anyone to view.
"Today's step is certainly qualitatively
and quantitatively different from any step that we as a company have
taken in the past," he said.
"We realize it is committing the company
not just to mere words, but to actions that will live up to these
principles completely."
Microsoft said it would post thousands of
additional pages of software protocols on its website in coming
weeks.
The protocols, previously only available for
fees, show software engineers how to enable applications to
communicate and exchange data with popular Microsoft programs such
as Outlook and Office.
A test of Microsoft's move will be whether
developers can mine useful nuggets from the mountain of information,
said analyst Michael Cherry of private firm Directions on Microsoft.
"If we really wanted to sit down today and
do something, how long would it take us? And if we have problems,
who do we ask?" Cherry said.
Microsoft's senior vice president of server and
tools business, Bob Muglia, told AFP to expect the firm's software
to be increasingly molded to work with other companies' products.
"These announcements are like McDonald's
releasing the recipe for its secret sauce," said AR
Communications strategic consultant Carmi Levy.
"This announcement signals that Microsoft
is finally ready to commit to an entirely new business model. This
is a radical shift from Microsoft's traditional bull-in-a-china-shop
strategy."
Microsoft said its new principles include
ensuring open connections, promoting data portability, and fostering
closer ties with the open-source community.
Open-source applications consist of software
considered public property and freely available for people to use
and modify.
People will be able to freely customize programs
to work with Microsoft software, but if they sell applications for
others to use, Microsoft will extract fees, according to Ballmer.
-- AFP
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