Microsoft ups interoperability strategy
Following earlier announcements by Microsoft that it planned to encourage greater interoperability between its applications and those of other software developers, the software giant has released documents outlining the protocols used in many of its popular desktop software.
The release of the "format specifications" include those for Microsoft Exchange Server 2007, SharePoint Server 2007 and Office 2007. The company has also posted "nearly 5 000 pages" on the binary file formats for Excel, Word and PowerPoint.
The documentation, which is housed on the Microsoft Developer Network (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc203350.aspx), is labelled "Version 1.0" and intended to make it easier for a wider range of software developers to develop software applications that interact with the company’s desktop applications.
The move by Microsoft is part of a growing strategy from the company to mark itself as less proprietary than it has been in the past. And after repeated run-ins with European competition regulators and a bruising battle with the open source community over its OOXML format, Microsoft is keen to make good on its promises of interoperability.
In March this year Microsoft announced its Document Interoperability Initiative which the company has said was "aimed at promoting user choice among document formats and expanded opportunity for developers, partners and competitors. The launch of this initiative is an important step in Microsoft’s commitment to implement a set of strategic changes in its technology and business practices to expand interoperability through the implementation of its interoperability principles."
The documents released by Microsoft also include a pricing for license patents that are intertwined with some of the released protocols. Open source developers who are not developing applications for commercial release are not obliged to pay the relevant patent costs. However, for those that are distributing software commercially the patents could costs as much as 1% of revenue as well as a hefty up-front royalty fee.
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