The European Court's ruling againstMicrosoftcould give IT departments
greater choice in the tools they use to manage
Windows.
The European Court of First Instance (CFI) last week upheld the
European Commission's 2004 decision to fine Microsoft £497m for
anti-competitive practices.
The CFI agreed with the commission's reasoning that Microsoft
had abused its dominant position by bundling the Windows-client PC
operating system and Windows Media Player, and refused to supply
its competitors with "interoperability information".
The decision has been welcomed by industry analysts as a
positive move. They predict that the ruling will result in a
greater choice of tools for end-users, and will make it easier for
them to integrate third-party software into Windows.
Microsoft sets out the terms for interoperability through a
licensing programme called Microsoft Communication Protocol Program
(MCPP). This provides a way for third-party software firms to
create server software that interoperates with Windows systems and
other Microsoft software using Windows communications
protocols.
The MCPP is a sub-set of a more detailed protocol licensing
scheme called the Microsoft Work Group Server Protocol Program
(WSPP), which provides deeper access into Windows. It contains the
main protocols and knowledge necessary to control Microsoft Windows
Active Directory.
"This ruling paves the way for competitors to license the WSPP,"
said Richard Jones, vice-president at analyst firm Burton
Group.
This could solve problems that businesses frequently encounter
when running Unix systems alongside Microsoft Exchange e-mail
servers.
Microsoft Exchange and Unix use incompatible directory services
to authenticate users, which makes linking the two technologies
difficult.
"Businesses that run directory services from Sun, IBM and Novell
need to implement complex synchronisation in order to run
Active Directory. Since it is hard to manage two directories,
it becomes a management nightmare," Jones said.
Managing mixed IT environments of this type would be greatly
simplified if the Unix directory services were able to use WSPP
protocols, he said.
The decision could also lead to improvements in the way
third-party software integrates with Microsoft products. In a paper
covering the Microsoft case, Christos Genakos, a research associate
at the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of
Economics, said that with better disclosure, rivals will be able to
compete on a level playing field.
Dale Vile, research director at analyst firm Freeform Dynamics,
said, "What the court is essentially saying is that it is not
acceptable for Microsoft to embed a hidden or prohibitively
expensive programming interface into a Windows server."
The decision should prevent Microsoft from using its proprietary
knowledge to enable its management tools to manage Windows servers
more effectively than popular third-party products.
Matthew Szulik, chairman and CEO of Red Hat, said, "In our
business, interoperability information is critically important and
cannot simply be withheld to exclude all competition."
But these benefits could come at a price. Amanda McPherson,
director of marketing at The Linux Foundation, said Microsoft could
increase the cost of its software to recoup legal costs.
"Ultimately, we expect that customers' refusal to absorb these
costs will be seen in the choices they make, and will force
Microsoft to support open standards and open interoperability."
microsoft's response to the european court of first instance's
ruling
The European Court of First Instance last week rejected
Microsoft's claims that the degree of interoperability required by
the European Commission would enable Microsoft's competitors to
clone or reproduce its products.
"The commission was correct to conclude that the server
operating systems of Microsoft's competitors must be able to
interoperate with Windows domain architecture on an equal footing
with Windows operating systems if they are to be capable of being
marketed viably," it said.
Brad Smith, senior vice-president, general counsel, corporate
secretary, legal and corporate affairs at Microsoft, said, "We are
100% committed to comply with the CFI."
"With respect to interoperability, a lot of work has been done,
some progress has been made, but some issues remain open. It has
not been an easy process to publish the technical documentation
required by the commission. I believe today we have an accurate
technical specification that is being used by licensees, and I hope
more licensees will use this in the months ahead."