Microsoft to Release Code for Windows
Microsoft Corp. will begin giving independent software writers a vast trove of information today about how the Windows operating system interacts with other computers and with smaller Microsoft programs, fulfilling key parts of its proposed antitrust settlement with the Justice Department.
The release of the technical information is designed to allow programmers to make alternative Web browsers, media players and other features work as well with Windows as do Microsoft’s own products.
Microsoft critics said that until the paperwork is released and programmers try to make rival software work on Windows, it would be impossible to evaluate how open the company is being.
The software behemoth promised to make the disclosures last fall when it settled with the Justice Department and nine states, which had accused it of unfairly using its monopoly in personal computer operating systems to promote Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser, Media Player and other programs.
A federal judge is considering whether to approve the settlement and whether to impose additional sanctions on Microsoft, as California, Iowa and seven other states are requesting.
Microsoft general counsel Brad Smith and other executives said the company would immediately offer licenses for 113 communication protocols, the procedures by which Windows interacts with larger server computers. That should let computer makers incorporate better non-Microsoft systems for sharing files, printing and other functions.
On Aug. 28, the company will disclose 272 internal interfaces, which cover how Windows works with other Microsoft programs for e-mail, Web browsing and the like.
As permitted under the proposed settlement, one server protocol and one internal interface will be withheld for security reasons, and one interface will be withheld to help protect content under a digital rights management system.
Those sound like minor exceptions rather than the truck-sized loopholes some had feared. But because Microsoft decided what was an interface at all, and what was part of the core code that didn’t have to be released, “it could be meaningless,” said Donald Falk, an attorney for a software industry group that has filed court papers on the government’s side.
The Justice Department said it had not finished studying the draft licensing terms and the disclosures to see if they are sufficient under the settlement. “Without more details about what these guys are doing, it’s a tough call to say ‘this is good’ or ‘this is bad,’ ” said one software executive whose products compete with Microsoft’s and who asked that his company not be named. “What are the licensing terms?”
Foes of the federal settlement had complained that it required disclosure of internal interfaces only just before Microsoft releases a new operating system or a major update. So though Microsoft is going to show the internal tricks in Windows XP and its coming update, the company’s programmers have had a long head start in designing features that take advantage of those tricks.
“A better remedy would put Microsoft in the position of having to adopt industry standard open [interfaces],” said Vice President John Perr of Ximian Inc., which is shepherding open-source versions of programs designed to run on Microsoft’s Internet-based “.Net” architecture. “I would characterize this as ‘Windows dressing.’ ”
Microsoft also touted the Windows XP upgrade, which adheres to another part of the settlement by allowing users to block access to Internet Explorer and other features known as middleware.
But the update contains “several examples where if you unclick a choice indicating you don’t want to use Microsoft middleware, it shows up anyway,” said Mike Pettit, executive director of ProComp, a trade group backed by Microsoft rivals including AOL Time Warner Inc. and Sun Microsystems Inc.
Pettit said that in a prerelease version of the update, Windows XP invokes Microsoft’s Internet Explorer for certain Web browsing, such as utilizing a Windows program called “Shopping for Music,” even if a user has installed a rival product such as AOL’s Netscape Web browser. And he said Windows XP will use Microsoft’s own Media Player to play certain music files even though a user has installed a rival media player from RealNetworks Inc.
“I find astonishing at this stage of the game that these kinds of things would happen,” Pettit said. “Either the Justice Department didn’t do a very good job of protecting consumers or Microsoft has not done a very good job of compliance.”
Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler said it was up to AOL and RealNetworks to make sure their tools are used by default in every instance. Desler said the XP update “enables third-party vendors to have the opportunity to be the defaults. They’re going to have to do the work.”
Representatives for states pressing for greater and speedier technical disclosures and a more stripped-down version of Windows said they will study how thorough Microsoft’s new steps are. But they said no matter how good the compliance is, it won’t fix the weaknesses in the federal settlement.
“If you have a settlement agreement that appears weak, it’s implementation would still be weak,” said Tam Ormiston, deputy attorney general in Iowa.
Microsoft shares slipped 42 cents to $43.99 on Nasdaq.
