Microsoft has announced a strategy to increase
the way its software works with other systems, including the open
source community.
The company plans to support open connections promote data
portability, support industry standards and foster more open
engagement with customers and the industry, including open source
communities.
Chief executive officer Steve Ballmer said, "Our goal is to
promote greater interoperability, opportunity and choice for
customers and developers throughout the industry by making our
products more open and by sharing even more information about our
technologies."
Ray Ozzie, Microsoft chief software architect, said, "By
increasing the openness of our products, we will provide developers
with additional opportunity to innovate and deliver value for
customers."
Microsoft products supporting the new initiative include
Windows Vista (including the .Net Framework), Windows Server
2008, SQL Server 2008, Office 2007, Exchange Server 2007, and
Office SharePoint Server 2007, and future versions of all these
products.