LIVE Coverage: Microsoft Call Regarding…Interoperability, DataPortability and Fostering Community

This page is where we will post live notes from the Microsoft conference call which is expected to begin shortly. Newest notes at the top and we will note once the call has completed. Keep refreshing this page to see the latest updates. The press release is live and has all of the details. The most used word from this call, "interoperability". "We are opening up but still retaining important patent property rights"

12:21 – Call has completed.

12:20 Kevin O’Brien/International Herald – Will MS continue to pursue openXML for office? We are continuing to pursue this, we will from time-to-time look to lead the standardization process and sometimes we will be on the receiving end.

12:15 Brier Dudley/Seattle Times – is the more open approach critical and if so why didn’t you do it sooner? MS: These steps are being taken on our own and there are some things we did to get in compliance with the EU decision but these principles are being taken on our own accord. We see this as new opportunities and risks and in the old times machines were independent and now more connected world has come – and the greatest thing is what people do on the other end of the wire. This is a very important strategic shift for our engineers and they have to think about the environments that the software that is created is a part of.

12:10 (ms) We realize that we are committing the company to not just words but also action. We know that people will put us to test not on the words but on the actions we are taking.

12:05 Charles DiBona/SanfordBernstein – (this guy asks the first question EVERY time) - is there any impact on broader use of IP? Brad Smith – first, we are not announcing our broader perspectives on IP. What we are announcing today is quite important with regards to IP. We are carving out a portion of our patent rights and offering a covenant to open source developers and these particular patent rights.  Commercial developers and Commercial users will need to still pay.

12:05 Opens for Questions

12:01 Brad Smith - first, the trade secrets are available free of charge for the products noted. Developers won’t even need a trade secret license and the documents are live on the Web. The principles provide royalty-free use. (Allen: Frankly you better read all of the notes about this if you plan to use the documents). Microsoft won’t sue open source developers for non-commercial implementations. For commercial implementations you must pay something (he doesn’t mention how much).

11:58 Muglia - Office 2007 documents by June 2008. We’ve been working with many organizations in terms of this open engagement. Muglia says "open source" about 100x. This is a major step for us.

11:55 Bob Muglia – we’ve had many significant steps towards interoperability and our work with Linux is a good view into our prgress and CGI access into IIS. We’ve had a lot of technical interoperability in the identity and virtualization space (names some companies that they  have built alliances with). He speaks about how important what they have done has led to this important announcement. Speaks about some of the legal notes and that everything wil be published on MSDN.

11:53 Ray Ozzie – customers will have the ability to select document formats created outside of Microsoft. He speaks more about interoperability. They will document everything they do and publish every bit of the documentation and make them freely available.

11:50 Ray Ozzie - As more and more users put data into systems, documents and data have a lifetime that span longer than the system that created it. Virtually every system has become connected thanks to the Internet – and it’s a vital concern. This announcement is a major shift for Microsoft for employees, and customers. He then summarized the principles which I noted below.  The documentation and protocols will be available to everyone and if you want to patent your use, low royalties will be available.

11:50 – Steve Ballmer – looking to help customers with choice and we are committed to living up to our legal responsibilities around the world.

11:46 – Steve Ballmer – I’d like to highlight open connections – in this area we will communicate all of our API standards – developers will not need to pay any fees or royalties. And we are publishing 30,000 pages of documentation for free and no longer for fee. Data portability – we realize that different users have different needs but with this announcement we will let developers plugin different formats for saving documents. In the area of documentation is how we actually standards are used in Microsoft. Lastly in industry engagement, we are launching an "open source interoperability initiative" to promote interop btw Microsoft software and open source software.

11:45 – Steve Ballmer – thank you for being here. Today Microsoft is describing a broad set of changes to our technology practices and standards and to help create a broader range of choice.

11:44 –  They are starting now, and they will NOT take any yahoo questions.

11:44 - Mike Murray provides an overview and there were too many people on the call to handle it.

11:40 – The press release is live but the call still is not.

11:37 – still music on hold….