Microsoft Makes Strategic Changes in Technology and Business Practices to Expand Interoperability

Microsoft is announcing today a set of broad-reaching changes to its technology and business practices that will increase the openness of its products and drive greater interoperability, opportunity and choice for developers, partners, customers, and competitors. 

Specifically, Microsoft is implementing four new interoperability principles and corresponding actions across its high-volume enterprise products – Windows Vista (including the .NET Framework), Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, Office 2007, Exchange Server 2007, and Office SharePoint Server 2007 as well as future versions of these products:

· Ensuring Open Connections to Microsoft Products

Microsoft is ensuring open connections to its high-volume products so that software developers, business partners and competitors can better interact with those products and extend existing products or invent new solutions for customers.

· Promoting Data Portability

Microsoft will design its high-volume products and provide documentation to enable customers to access their stored data and use their data in other software products.

· Enhancing Support for Industry Standards

Microsoft will support relevant standards in its high-volume products and do so in new ways that promote even greater levels of interoperability than before. This will allow other developers implementing standards to understand how a standard is used in a Microsoft product and foster improved interoperability for customers.

· Fostering More Open Engagement

Microsoft will increase its communications with the customer, IT and open source communities to drive a collaborative approach to addressing interoperability challenges.

Over the past several years, Microsoft has taken a number of important steps to promote interoperability and expand the information it shares with customers and members of the industry . The actions announced today represent a significant expansion toward even greater transparency that will present new opportunities for the vast majority of software developers.

To read the full press release, please click here: https://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/feb08/02-21ExpandInteroperabilityPR.mspx

To visit the Virtual Pressroom, click here: https://www.microsoft.com/presspass/presskits/interoperability/default.mspx