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Microsoft Takes Bold Steps Toward Open APIs and Publishing Tech Specs
2/21/2008
In a major shift in its business model, Microsoft Thursday said it is placing a significant emphasis on standardization and interoperability, saying it will share its APIs and release extensive documentation of its protocols. The company is also promising not to sue open source developers who use Microsoft's patented protocols for non-commercial implementations.
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer outlined four new interoperability principles that include ensuring open connections; promoting data portability; enhancing support for industry standards; and fostering more open engagement with customers and the industry, including open source communities.
"These steps are an important step and significant change in how we share information about our high volume products and technologies," Ballmer said during a press conference today.
While such a move was once considered blasphemy in Redmond, Microsoft in recent years has made moves inching toward today's shift. Nevertheless, Microsoft has acknowledged that it needed to take more dramatic steps to appease regulators, notably the European Commission, consumers and enterprise customers alike.
Indeed, Microsoft has been battling EC antitrust investigations for years. Two antitrust investigations were formally launched against Microsoft last month, one related to interoperability, and the other involving "tying separate products together." A January 14, 2008 statement from the EC describes the interoperability investigation as follows:
In the complaint by ECIS[ European Committee for Interoperable Systems], Microsoft is alleged to have illegally refused to disclose interoperability information across a broad range of products, including information related to its Office suite, a number of its server products, and also in relation to the so called .NET Framework. The Commission's examination will therefore focus on all these areas, including the question whether Microsoft's new file format Office Open XML, as implemented in Office, is sufficiently interoperable with competitors' products.
The EC issued another statement today regarding Microsoft's announcement: "The Commission would welcome any move towards genuine interoperability. Nonetheless, the Commission notes that today's announcement follows at least four similar statements by Microsoft in the past on the importance of interoperability."
While the timing of Microsoft announcements in light of its ongoing antitrust issues is worth noting, company officials claimed that they were not forced to open up their APIs to developers and share interoperability information.
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