The company will eliminate non-disclosure agreements relating to licensing of protocols that allow server software to communicate with Windows 2000 Professional, Windows XP and successor desktop operating systems.
Microsoft will also reduce costs paid by ISVs who license the Windows protocols, the company said in a statement. Changes will take place during the coming weeks.
Microsoft’s decision is a response to comments made by the US Department of Justice (DoJ) over a program that provided for the licensing of Windows protocols to ISVs, which was introduced by Microsoft in August 2002.
The company originally made 113 Windows protocols available to ISVs, under the terms of its US anti-trust settlement with the US government and nine states.
At the time, Microsoft said the protocols would be made available under a non-disclosure agreement in packs based on specific areas of functionality, such as file server, print server and streaming media, starting at $5 per server.
However, the DoJ said this week Microsoft had agreed to substantially revise the terms of the license following its comments.
Microsoft said it would publish virtually all information about the program, called the Microsoft Communications Protocol Program (MCPP). This will include sample license documents and a brief summary of each protocol on a publicly available web site. Previously, such information was only made available once an ISV had committed to a non-disclosure agreement.
The DoJ added it would continue to examine the issue of royalties associated with the protocols during the next several weeks.
Source: Computerwire
