Microsoft Starts Opening Windows

Plans call for Microsoft to publish 272 royalty-free, previously secret Windows 2000 and XP APIs on its MSDN Web site on Aug. 28.

Early last week, the company released 113 proprietary communication protocols, available for a licensing fee, said Brad Smith, Microsoft's senior vice president and general counsel.

To thwart potential hackers, Microsoft is withholding the release of a Windows file-protection API, which allows for the replacement of "critical" Windows system components, said Charles Dejong, director of business development for Microsoft's Windows Platform Group.

Industry analysts say the release of such intellectual property will enable solution providers and ISVs,including Microsoft competitors,to integrate their applications with the Windows client and server as tightly as Microsoft can. Though open APIs address a key focus of the antitrust case, they may create a quality-control problem for Microsoft over the long term, analysts said.

"It may generate more enthusiasm among ISVs to develop to .Net if they have a more equal opportunity to compete against Microsoft in applications, but it will likely add some pressure on the company to ensure that the applications are certified and maintain compatibility to the additional APIs exposed as OS upgrades emerge," said George Weiss, an analyst at research firm Gartner.

"More access means more opportunity to leverage capabilities already available in the OS," said Keith Landers, CTO at Atlanta-based solution provider ExtremeLogic. "On the other hand, it makes it harder for Microsoft to continue to provide versions that upgrade seamlessly from OS version to OS version."

Microsoft's move to withhold the file-protection API was wise, said Michael Cocanower, president of ITSynergy, a Phoenix-based solution provider. "Exposing this API might open a can of worms that we, as Microsoft partners, don't want to see," he said.