Microsoft to Free Up Its Software Codes

Local software developers can more easily develop products that work with Vista, Office and other Microsoft products now that the software giant will release free documentation for developers, executives said.

Microsoft, which previously released such information only under a trade-secret agreement, charging licensing fees and royalties, said yesterday it would release the information free online.

The change comes a month after the European Union launched an antitrust investigation on suspicions Microsoft blocked developers of competing software from gaining access to its products.

The European Union expressed skepticism at Microsoft’s shift, saying the "announcement follows at least four similar statements by Microsoft in the past on the importance of interoperability."

Microsoft also has been forced to open its software because of the growing open-source movement, which makes software code freely available so others easily can integrate applications with it.

Microsoft said it would immediately release 30,000 pages of documents on Windows software that runs PCs and centralized computer servers, followed by similar information on Office 2007.

Dan Galvez, managing partner of Hedgehog Development Llc, a software and technology consulting company in Holbrook, said the release is "a huge benefit."

Hedgehog recently created customized software to allow an international bank based in Manhattan to manage and share research documents using Microsoft Office.

"We weren’t able to take advantage fully of Word," Galvez said. "We had to build our own functionality."

But with Microsoft’s documentation, Hedgehog would have been able to use built-in tools from Microsoft Office to design the software for the bank, speeding up the development time, Galvez said.

It’s like seeing "the secret recipe of grandma’s homemade sauce," said Bob Venero, president and chief executive of software developer Future Tech Enterprise Inc., based in Holbrook. "They’re giving those ingredients that help make Microsoft what it is." Recently, Future Tech installed software that allows health-care personnel to instantly view X-rays on PCs. But the software remains separate from Office.

With the upcoming release of the Office documentation, Future Tech would be able to seamlessly integrate the software with Office, making it easier to e-mail the X-rays via Outlook software or place it in a Word document.

"I call it ‘open-source day,’" Venero said of yesterday’s announcement. "I think it’s a huge deal."