Microsoft proposes retrospective browser ballot

Stephen Withers
Monday, 27 July 2009 04:33

IT Industry - Development

Microsoft has also offered to "ensure that all the Windows APIs on which Internet Explorer relies are disclosed in a complete, accurate and timely manner, so that non-Microsoft web browser suppliers would not be at a competitive disadvantage compared to Microsoft when designing a web browser for Windows."

The EC welcomed Microsoft's proposal, saying it will "investigate its practical effectiveness in terms of ensuring genuine consumer choice." The statement noted the EC's view that simply removing IE from Windows 7 "would not have been an effective remedy."

In an apparent attempt to settle the other EU antitrust matter, Microsoft has proposed a public undertaking that would make available the information needed by developers to create products that interoperate with Microsoft software.

The idea is that the information would be sufficient to put third-party software on the same footing as other Microsoft products in terms of interoperability, and that it would be made available on "reasonable and non-discriminatory terms."

Notably, the proposal states that the licensing terms will be compatible with open source licences.

The proposal specifically covers interoperability between:

'¢ Microsoft PC productivity applications and third-party server software,
'¢ Windows (client) and third-party server software,
'¢ Windows Server and third-party server software,
'¢ SharePoint and third-party server software,
'¢ Outlook and Exchange, and corresponding third-party software,
'¢ Word, PowerPoint and Excel, and corresponding third-party software (file-format interoperability, and
'¢ .NET framework and third-party software.

Microsoft would also support POP3, IMAP4 and iCalendar in Outlook and Exchange; ODF in Word, Excel and PowerPoint (with provision to make it the default format starting with Office 2007 SP2 for volume customers and with Office 14 [aka Office 2010] for all customers); and a range of web standards (include HTML 4.0, CSS 1.0 and 2.1) in IE, starting with version 8.

One potential issue is that the interoperability undertaking does not include a patent pledge. Microsoft would still be free to bring patent infringement actions against a vendor that necessarily uses Microsoft patents to achieve interoperability. The only protection such a vendor has is that Microsoft will not take action unless the patents concerned were not identified in the interoperability information and listed in the warranty agreements.

The browser ballot proposal would last for five years, while Microsoft would be able to terminate the interoperability undertaking after 10 years.