Microsoft opens source code
2006-01-26 11:13
Palo Alto, California - Microsoft, under threat of daily European Commission fines, said on Wednesday it would make more of its software code available to be examined by competitors.
The software giant made the offer to avert up to €2m a day in fines stemming from a March 2004 commission decision that the company used its dominant market position to unfairly compete against rivals.
Wednesday's decision to license "communications protocols" in Windows Server should have a limited impact on the company's competitive standing. It would allow rivals, third-party software developers and Windows customers to better troubleshoot and build programmes designed to work alongside Windows, say software analysts.
But some experts say it isn't likely to resolve the long-running case or even the part of the dispute concerning technical specifications.
"I think they are most likely going to reject it," says Laura DiDio, a research fellow at Yankee Group, referring to the European Commission's announcement it would study the Microsoft proposal.
The commission could conclude the offer doesn't go far enough in leveling the competitive playing field as it did last month when it said technical documentation Microsoft agreed to make available offered insufficient information, DiDio said.
Microsoft General Counsel, Brad Smith, said the company hoped to put the issue of technical compliance to rest so it could discuss more substantive aspects of the case.
The commission has also ordered Microsoft to provide a version of its Windows operating system for PC's without the Windows Media Player software that plays music and video.
A hearing on Microsoft's appeal of the decision is scheduled for April 24 to 28.
According to analysts, the Microsoft licensing proposal is indeed evidence the company would like to resolve the impasse over the technical side of the case.
The European Commission dispute is the last of a series of key antitrust cases facing the company, said Matt Rosoff, an analyst at the research firm Directions on Microsoft. "They would really like to resolve it."
Rosoff said the software Microsoft plans to license - referred to as source code because of its role as a fundamental building block for Windows - would be particularly useful in troubleshooting third-party programmes that need to interact with Windows Server.
It also wouldn't be the first piece of source code Microsoft makes available to government and academic institutions and to some of its large customers.
Past Microsoft licenses often allow the source code to be viewed, but not changed or publicly released as Microsoft fears parts of its software could get lodged into open-source products that circulate freely on the internet.
Microsoft's license proposal could help resolve a separate dispute that has arisen between the company and the Department of Justice over settlement of a US antitrust case. Earlier this week, the department complained in federal District Court that Microsoft hadn't provided enough technical information quickly enough to licensees.
The department has been discussing the Windows Server source code license proposal with the company, a department spokesperson said.