A devil in Microsoft’s details?
TEXT OF STORY
Doug Krizner: Yesterday, Microsoft said it’ll share some of its secrets. The company will offer more technical details about Windows and Office productivity programs. Should making life easier for the software industry. But anti-trust regulators in Europe are skeptical, as Stephen Beard reports from London.
Stephen Beard: Microsoft says it will make the blueprints of some of its key software available free on its website. The company claims this will help rival firms’ design packages that work better with Microsoft products.
Some analysts hail this as a breakthrough, a genuine change of heart. But Europe’s Competition Commissioner in Brussels is not so sure.
Spokeman Johnathon Todd gives the announcement a very guarded welcome:
Johnathon Todd: We have seen announcements, similar announcements from Microsoft in the past which have not been followed up in practice. We genuinely hope that this time, it is the genuine article.
He points out that Microsoft’s move does not deal with one of the E.U.’s main allegations — that the company is abusing its dominant market position by tying its own software, like Internet Explorer, into the Windows Operating System.
In London, this is Stephen Beard for Marketplace.
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