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Microsoft announces open standards push -- again
Microsoft is promising to take steps to improve interoperability with competing technologies. This is hardly the first time Microsoft has made such promises, although in the past the company has usually waited until it received a few pokes from one regulatory agency or another.Microsoft will make APIs and other information available for 6 "high-volume" products:
- Windows Vista
- Windows Server 2008
- SQL Server 2008
- Office 2007
- Exchange Server 2007
- Office SharePoint Server 2007
From a more practical level, Microsoft will be designing new APIs for Office 2007 that will make it easier for users to choose between a variety of document formats. The company is also launching an "open source interoperability initiative" that should result in better communication between Microsoft products and open source alternatives like OpenOffice.org.
Lest you should think this latest push is entirely altruistic, Mary Jo Foley points out that ISO is scheduled to discuss the standarization of Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) format next week. If Microsoft doesn't get the ISO standard, the company could lose out on government contracts that require open standards.
Comments
5
Subscribe to commentsaMIGA_dUDEFeb 21st 2008 1:12PM
Wow, the power of Europe in action!
Right on.
ToddFeb 21st 2008 1:26PM
Thank you for bringing up Microsoft's sabotage of Open Document:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Document#Worldwide_adoption
you may expect the same hostile intent behind this new attempt at "openness".
Laocoön, priest of Troy, who, in Virgil's Aeneid, tells his countrymen to "Beware Greeks bearing gifts". Both German and English have expressions related to “Greeks bearing gifts”, but they don't use the same idioms. While English concentrates on warning against Greeks with gifts, German emphasizes the gift itself. Ein Danaergeschenk is a “fatal gift” that brings misfortune or causes problems.
Gardiner WestboundFeb 21st 2008 11:19PM
I have been using MS Office 2000. It does everything I want to do, however, the next time I reformat my hard drive I'm going with Open Office. I don't want to spend $300 for an up-to-date version of MS Office.
Joshua ClaytonFeb 22nd 2008 12:00PM
I have to say I could probably care less. Just make Internet Explorer render webpages properly. Talk about not following standards!
a guyFeb 24th 2008 1:06PM
I don't get it. Does this mean Windows Vista's source code will be open for people to see?