Open Connections

Microsoft ensures open connections with its high-volume products by providing access to technical documentation for APIs and protocols on the MSDN Library and assisting developers in implementing these protocols and APIs on community support forums.

Protocol Documentation
Protocol documentation is available to view and download from the MSDN Web site. This documentation includes protocols licensed under the Microsoft Communications Protocol Program (MCPP) and Work Group Server Protocol Program (WSPP) protocol licensing programs, as well as documentation for protocols that are built into Office 2007, Office SharePoint Server 2007, and Exchange Server 2007.

Open Specifications Community Forums
Microsoft uses its developer portal, MSDN, to host support forums specific to the open specifications documentation.

Data Portability

The ability to move data and information easily between products and platforms is a key requirement for businesses. To increase choice and opportunities for users, Microsoft enables end-to-end data portability across applications in a variety of ways.

This includes support for standards-based data formats and Open Formats in our high-volume products. Some recent examples include:

Office Open XML Formats Overview
Office Open XML Formats are based on industry standard XML and ZIP technologies, support full integration by any technology provider, and are available via a royalty-free license.

Open XML SDK
The 2007 Microsoft® Office system introduces a new file format that is based on XML called Open XML Formats. Microsoft Office Word 2007, Microsoft Office Excel® 2007, and Microsoft Office PowerPoint® 2007 all use these formats as the default file format. Open XML formats are useful for developers because they are an open standard and are based on well-known technologies: ZIP and XML.

Binary File Formats
The Microsoft Office file formats documentation provides detailed technical specifications for Microsoft Office file formats. The documentation is designed to describe each file format in detail as it is used by these applications to create documents.