Major Microsoft/Open Source News

The day after I said I will change my blogging style, major news struck. (I said I would cover major news.)

Microsoft just made several huge announcements:

1. They are going to know open up all their API's for their major software. This means no more reversed-engineered second rate Linux software to work with Microsoft products! The API's tell developers exactly how to work with a program. This was all secret before. Microsoft is releasing 30,000 pages of online documentation now and will release more over the next several months.
   
2. There will be an initiative to get formats, like document formats to work with open source software.
   
3. They are setting up labs and technical communities to help open source companies make open source software work with Microsoft products and formats.
4. They have finally said they will not sue open source developers who incorporate these "Microsoft secrets" into the open source code as long as they do it for non-commercial purposes.

In short, finally things in the open source world should gradually start working correctly with things from the Microsoft world, with Microsoft supporting it. :)

I guess the European Union is skeptical, but I will give Microsoft the benefit of the doubt.

Read about it in the Washington Post, New York Times, or Cnet.