Mailing the story:

REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 21, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today announced a set of broad-reaching changes to its technology and business practices to increase the openness of its products and drive greater interoperability, opportunity and choice for developers, partners, customers and competitors. Specifically, Microsoft is implementing four new interoperability principles and corresponding actions across its high-volume business products: (1) ensuring open connections; (2) promoting data portability; (3) enhancing support for industry standards; and (4) fostering more open engagement with customers and the industry, including open source communities.

[ In short: Microsoft closedness is backfiring, causing them troubles and they admit it. They are finally going to specify which patents come along with which of their protocols, and going to grant cheap commercial / gratis for non commercial use RAND licenses for those patents. I think this announcement could have a very big impact on Linux & free / open source software, that's why I'm posting this Microsoft news. If you believe it it's up to you; last time I posted a MS press release about their 'openness' it turned out to be all lies (called OOXML), so be aware, you are warned! - hkwint ]