INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY : COMMISSION PUTS OPENING OF MICROSOFT SOFTWARE INTO PERSPECTIVE.

Microsoft announced an "important step" toward a greater opening of its software to competition on 21 February during a telephone press conference "not concerning the proposed acquisition of Yahoo!". The European Commission hastened to put this in perspective: these measures "do not respond to the question of knowing if Microsoft has complied with the EU anti-monopoly rules in this field in the past".

The Redmond-based firm committed to allowing a "high volume" of its consumer products to have "open connections" and favours "the portability of data". Rival software developers will have free access to this information. The group has already released more than 30,000 pages of documentation on its Windows operating system, which is used on 90% of the computers on the planet. The group also intends "to reinforce the support for industrial standards" and to further commit, within the Community, to open-source software (open sharing of copyrights and programming code). It will make other protocols accessible under licensing "with low royalty rates". These new principles will in particular be applied to Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, SQL Server, Office 2007 and their future versions.

The Commission remains sceptical. It "is pleased with the move toward true interoperability," making dialogue between different software possible, but "this announcement follows four similar announcements from Microsoft on the importance of interoperability". Armed with a first victory before the EU Court on 17 September 2007 confirming the group's abuse of dominant position, the Commission will "check if Microsoft respects EU rules, if the measures announced [ ] would put an end to any potential infractions, and if these measure are effectively applied."

"It is certain that we are not speaking for the Commission," said Steve Ballmer, the group's CEO. "What we are announcing today is certainly new and larger than anything we've done in the past," he added.

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