EU praises Microsoft reform plans

The European Commission is to market test new proposals it has received from Microsoft outlining how the company intends to implement the Commission's March 2004 Decision in the field of interoperability (see IP/04/382). The Decision required Microsoft to disclose complete and accurate interface documentation which would allow non-Microsoft work group servers to achieve full interoperability with Windows PCs and servers. The Commission is putting Microsoft's proposals to industry in order to assess them in full. Subject to the results of this market test, work group server developers interested in receiving interoperability information from Microsoft will be able to develop and sell their products on a global basis. Microsoft has also recognised the need to enhance the options available to recipients by creating a range of packages of information from which they can choose according to their needs. Furthermore, there will be a category of interoperability information that will be disclosed royalty-free. The Commission remains committed to ensuring that in due course it will become possible to use certain interoperability information from Microsoft in software products distributed under an open source licence.

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