Microsoft releases files on software

Microsoft Corp., heeding European regulators' demands to open up its software, has published thousands of pages of technical documentation showing developers how to make outside programs work with the company's applications.

Microsoft has released about 50,000 pages in three batches, detailing the protocols needed to connect programs to its Office business applications and other software.

The documents make it easier to tap into Microsoft's flagship software, thereby increasing competition.

The world's biggest software maker had come under fire from the European Commission because its products shared information more effectively with one another, giving Microsoft an advantage over other developers.

"We are mindful of our obligations in Europe to open things up," Craig Shank, Microsoft's general manager in charge of making products interoperable, said from the company's headquarters in Redmond.

The latest batch of information, 5,000 pages' worth, will help developers create products that work with the Office 2007 and Office SharePoint Server 2007 software.

"It's easier for developers to create applications that communicate with and store information associated with those Microsoft applications," Shank said. Microsoft will periodically release additional technical details, he said.

Microsoft said in February that it would also change its Office 2007 word-processing, spreadsheet and slideshow programs to let developers plug in their own file standards. That means users can save documents in different formats.