In a major turnaround for Microsoft, the company Thursday promised "greater transparency" in its development and business practices, outlining a new strategy to provide more access to APIs and previously proprietary protocols for some of its major software products, including Windows and Office.

"The changes mandated by the European Commission in Microsoft's interoperability licences will continue to block Open Source developers, legal experts on this type of software say..."

Microsoft may have won a year-long quest to make its Office Open XML document format an ISO-recognised international standard, but claims of foul play in the voting process may come back to haunt the software giant when the European Commission concludes its latest antitrust investigation of Microsoft's business practices.

After hearing Microsoft's pledge to open the code for many of its applications and perusing at least some of the first documentation, reaction in the open-source community is varied.

It has been amusing this Independence Day reading reaction to Microsoft’s Equipt announcement. The reaction has ranged from hope to anger, depending on the author’s attitude toward Microsoft. Rather than play either note I’d like to focus on the business model and the opportunities it offers open source.

How does it feel to be left out of the public arena while Microsoft perverts it?

Karsten Gerloff, president of lobby group Free Software Foundation Europe, said the ongoing Microsoft arrangement was a "disgrace" for the European Commission (EC).
"It's astounding that every single agreement between the Commission and Microsoft since 1993 has been concluded without a public call for tender," he said.

The European Commission confirmed it has received a complaint about Microsoft's business practices from a British government agency Tuesday, but isn't following it up as it normally would with an antitrust complaint, according to a press officer.

It's important to see open source as a business methodology. No more, no less. It's a way of life for software companies that want to work with others. The "others" could include other companies, and individuals independent of either. Open source software build communities around themselves, and are guarded by licenses.