Microsoft, the world’s biggest software company, will soon allow users and other applications licence-free rights to access its Outlook mail service, using any software platform. This step will make it possible for programmers and users to access Microsoft Outlook files through any platform, including Linux, without having to buy separate licences for the same. To access Microsoft’s software, users need to have licensing rights. But now they can access the software without the need for the license. The open source journey for Microsoft had started three years ago when it said it will drop all patent and intellectual property claims for around 35 selected web services protocols. Last year, the company said it will allow ‘data-portability’ for some its biggest selling products, including MS Office 2007 and SQL Server 2008.
“The demand has come from our customers who want other products to be interoperable with Microsoft’s.Nevertheless, we value the inputs from regulatory bodies and governments. This move will help other mail systems to be interoperable with Outlook,” said Paul Lorimer, group manager, Microsoft Office Interoperability.
