But the Free Software Foundation Europe suspects foul play. It
argues that Microsoft has not done what the Commission told it to
do: to publish the protocols that allow others to write
interoperable software and to re-establish competition.
"That does not appear to have happened, at least the terms under
which the protocols are supposedly available are not clear," said
FSFE President Georg Greve. "What they have done instead is publish
source code, which they were not asked to do."
Microsoft's General Counsel, Brad Smith, sees it
differently.
“We have now come to the conclusion that the only way to be
certain of satisfying the Commission’s demands is to go beyond the
2004 Decision and offer a license to the source code of the Windows
server operating system,” he said.
“While we are confident that we are presently in full compliance
with the Decision we wish to dispel any notion that Microsoft’s
technical documents are insufficient,” he added.
The announcement came shortly after the Commission had
agreed to extend a deadline by which Microsoft was due to
supply technical documentation that would allow rivals to
successfully implement certain Windows Server communications
protocols.
The documentation is required in fulfilment of a Commission
Decision that Microsoft broke competition law by leveraging its
near monopoly in the market for PC operating systems onto the
markets for work group server operating systems and for media
players.
The Commission imposed a fine, ordered Microsoft to offer an
alternative stripped-down version of Windows, and ordered the firm
to publish some of its interfaces, so that competitors could make
their products interoperable with Windows.
Microsoft has paid the fine and produced the alternative Windows
version, but has been slow to produce what the Commission sees as
adequate interoperability information.
The company hopes that its offer to licence the relevant Windows
Server source code will address concerns raised by the Commission
in December.
“Today we are putting our most valuable intellectual property on
the table so we can put technical compliance issues to rest and
move forward with a serious discussion about the substance of this
case,” said Smith. “The Windows source code is the ultimate
documentation of Windows Server technologies. With this step our
goal is to resolve all questions about the sufficiency of our
technical documentation.”
But FSFE, a non-profit organisation dedicated to Free Software
in Europe, fears Microsoft's move will cause additional
troubles.
Carlo Piana, FSFE's lawyer, said: "This 'commitment' is poisoned
– they do it in a way that worsens the situation for Free Software:
because that source code is under Microsoft copyright, developers
who have seen the source code cannot re-implement it in Free
Software for fear of copyright violation."
He continued, "Microsoft might try to shut down competition by
making claims of copyright infringement based on the argument that
the developer 'could' have looked at the source code."
Georg Greve added: "How exactly are developers supposed to write
interoperable software without looking at the source code if the
specifications are not available? If you eat from that apple, you
find yourself poisoned by their copyright."
Greve said Microsoft "acted like a robber that, when asked to
please put away the gun, tosses you a grenade."
The EU Commission said yesterday that it would study the offer
carefully, but is still expecting a reply to its objections by 15th
February.
