Microsoft takes openness vow

Microsoft is promising transparency and interoperability with competitors' products

Microsoft has unveiled a set of principles for future versions of its Windows operating system that aim to ensure transparency and interoperability with competitors' products. 

The vow comes as Microsoft faces wide-ranging sanctions from the European Union for failing to meet interoperability requirements. The European Commission last week imposed a €280m fine on the software firm.

Microsoft did not mention the ongoing dispute with the EU in a press release announcing the "voluntary" programme.

The tenets were described a way to guarantee openness beyond November 2007, when Microsoft's 2001 antitrust settlement with the US Department of Justice is set to expire.

But Matt Rosoff, senior analyst at Directions on Microsoft, told vnunet.com that the move is aimed in part at letting the EU know that Redmond is going to play fair with Windows Vista.

Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith said in a speech at the National Press Club in Washington: "Our goal is to be principled and transparent as we develop new versions of Windows.

"These voluntary principles are intended to provide the industry and consumers with the benefits of ongoing innovation, while creating and preserving robust opportunities for competition.

"The principles incorporate and go beyond the provisions of the US antitrust ruling."

The "principles" address developers, computer manufacturers and end users. Microsoft has promised to structure its licences for manufacturers to allow them to bundle either Microsoft or non-Microsoft products.

This would enable a manufacturer to bundle Java or the open source Firefox browser, for example, or set Google as the default search engine for Internet Explorer.

Similarly, Microsoft said that it would design and license Windows on terms that enable software developers to build their products even if they are direct competitors for Microsoft software.

End users also received a vow on interoperability when the company promised to allow them to use data across computer systems and applications.

The latter should prevent Microsoft from locking in users on the Windows platform by using proprietary data formats that cannot be accessed on Linux or OS X systems.

Open data formats have generated heated debate in the past year after several government entities started to embrace the Open Document Format over Microsoft's Open XML.

Directions on Microsoft believes that the announcement goes beyond an empty promise in a press release.

"Microsoft is seriously trying to move beyond using Windows to push other products. Of course the proof is in how they act, but at least now the rules are out there," said Rosoff.