DESPITE PUBLIC STATEMENTS of goodwill, Microsoft's attempt to unbundle its middleware products from Windows has received a resounding gong from developers and IT executives who accuse the company of continuing to stifle competition. The company announced this week it will post nearly 300 new APIs to the Microsoft Developer Network on Aug. 28 as part of a plan to adopt some of the remedies proposed by the long-running antitrust settlement. Also touted is the September release of a Service Pack for Windows XP that's designed to let system manufacturers and users select or remove middleware offerings such as Internet Explorer (IE) browser, Media Player, Outlook Express, Microsoft Messenger, and Microsoft Java Virtual Machine
|