The last session I attended at TechReady in Seattle was an overview of the Microsoft Protocol Programs. These programs make available the protocols in the following Microsoft products (and their successors) that are used by any other Microsoft products:

• Windows Vista (including the .NET Framework)
• Windows Server 2008
• SQL Server 2008
• Office 2007
• Exchange Server 2007
• Office SharePoint Server 2007.

and they were developed to support the implementation of four interoperability principles which were announced back in February:

• ensuring open connections
• promoting data portability
• enhancing support for industry standards
• driving engagement that is more open.

As part of these principles Microsoft has committed that all the protocols in its high-volume products that are used by any other Microsoft product will be made openly available to the developer community in a nondiscriminatory fashion. The documentation for the Open Protocols is made available without charge and without restriction on the MSDN Library in the Open Protocol Specifications area.

I was pleasantly surprised during the presentation to learn that we have published patent licenses for all but one of the products (the SQL Server 2008 patent license will be published once the product ships) and that these licenses include royalty rates and minimum royalty information:

• Windows Vista (including the .NET Framework)
• Windows Server 2008
• Office 2007
• Exchange Server 2007
• Office SharePoint Server 2007

In addition we have made available “patent maps” which identify protocols that are covered by one or more Microsoft patents or patent applications:

• Windows Vista (including the .NET Framework)
• Windows Server 2008
• Office 2007
• Exchange Server 2007
• Office SharePoint Server 2007

The maps above don’t identify specific patent numbers however, if needed, they are available by emailing infodoc <at> microsoft <dot> com.

All-in-all, I found the presentation to be interesting and enlightening and I was pleased to see the progress being made in making the above information more publicly available. According to the presenter software developers around the world are already taking advantage of these programs to build and ship new products in synch with our development cycles. It would be great to see lots of NZ developers follow suit.