Microsoft announced 4 new interoperability principles of its future software. They include ensuring open connections, promoting data portability, enhancing support for industry standards and fostering open discussions with customers and the industry, the company said.

Microsoft sees the move as a strategic change to its technology and business practices to increase the openness of its products. What's even more interesting is that Microsoft promised not to sue open source developers for development or non-commercial distribution of implementations of its protocols.

The Redmond company is under pressure, especially in Europe, to disclose more information to allow software developers write third-party applications. This seems just a clever attempt to appease the European Commission in its ongoing antitrust case. In Europe, large businesses do not have as much an upper hand over smaller rivals as usually happens here in the United States.

The "open" principles apply to the following high-volume Microsoft products: Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, SQL Server 2008, Office 2007, Exchange Server 2007, and Office SharePoint Server 2007, and future versions of all these products, Microsoft said.

The company will be allegedly collaborating in implementing the new strategy with the Interoperability Executive Customer (IEC) Council, an advisory organization established in 2006 and consisting mainly of chief information and technology officers from more than 40 companies and government bodies around the world, the Redmond company said in a statement.

Microsoft is expected to publish over 30,000 documentation pages on their website for Windows client and server protocols that have only been available through a trade-secret license so far. Within the next few months, developers will have access to Microsoft’s documentation, but they will be free to develop their products as long as they will not try to use them for commercial purposes.

According to the company, for a commercial distribution of the applications, the developers will have to obtain a patent license from Microsoft.