3 replies to this topic

[Nvyseal]

images/news/microsoft.jpgDetails of the announcement will be provided during a press teleconference

REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 21, 2008
Who:
Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft Corp.;
Ray Ozzie, chief software architect;
Bob Muglia, senior vice president of the Server and Tools Business; and
Brad Smith, senior vice president and general counsel for Legal and Corporate Affairs.

Note: This announcement is not about Microsoft’s proposed acquisition of Yahoo! Inc. It will not be discussed during this call.

When: TODAY, 8:30 a.m. PST (17:30 CET) to 9:15 a.m. PST (18:15 CET), Thursday, Feb. 21, 2008

Here is what we know so far: Read

x64bit.net will keep you updated on this throughout the day

[TheBearLT]

Hey, Steve Balmer, give us more information.. we are too tired to browse your blog

Edited by TheBearLT, 22 February 2008 - 10:50 AM.

[Nvyseal]

During a conference call with press and analysts to explain the finer points of Microsoft’s newly announced “interoperability principles,” company officials reiterated that Microsoft is not changing its thinking about its right to protect its patents, trade secrets and intellectual property.

Microsoft’s promise not to sue open source developers solely applies to developers who are using Microsoft’s patented protocols and interfaces in non-commercial ways. In other words, Microsoft isn’t throwing in the towel in its quest to get Red Hat and other Linux vendors to sign patent-protection agreements.

Quote

Senior Vice President and General Counsel Brad Smith told participants on the call that Microsoft’s goal was “carving out a portion of its patent rights.” Specifically, Microsoft is now allowing any developers — commercial or open-source to see and “use” its application-programming interfaces (APIs) for free.

(As of today, the APIs that Microsoft is making available to developers are the same communications-protocol-related ones that Microsoft was required to provide by Department of Justice and European Commission antitrust authorities. By June, Microsoft will add more APIs to this list — specifically those related to the .Net Framework, Office 2007, Exchange Server 2007 and SharePoint Server 2007. It sounds like Microsoft is planning to make the interfaces and protocols for its eXtensible Application Markup Language, or XAML, available to developers at some point, too.)

For developers who want to implement these APIs in a “non-commercial” way, there will be no charge. I guess that means Samba won’t be getting its 10,000 Euros back? (I’ve asked Samba if they might be getting at least a partial discount; no word yet.)