"I think the one thing that's inarguable is that supporting developers is in Microsoft's DNA from its earliest days," said Anil Dash, a vice president and technical evangelist for San Francisco blogware vendor, Six Apart Ltd. Microsoft will "move mountains and bend over backwards to accommodate developers. My feeling is that, at every major transition, Microsoft's developer network resources would almost overwhelm you with information and tools to get you to use the new shiny stuff."

At the same time, Microsoft has also long faced accusations by embittered former software partners alleging that Microsoft gave them illegally inferior treatment when Redmond decides to release its own offering.

Most recently, the company released draft APIs to let security software makers get around a contentious kernel protection technology in the 64-bit version of Vista called PatchGuard.

Before capitulating, Microsoft had argued that giving away information about Patchguard would compromise Vista's security. Vendors such as Symantec Corp. and McAfee Inc. claimed that if denied access to Patchguard, their products would be unable to offer key features and would thus lag behind Microsoft's own recently-introduced security software.

The 2001 settlement of the antitrust case by the Department of Justice against Microsoft required the company to share its APIs (application programming interfaces) with third-party companies. Microsoft was also required to appoint a three-person panel with full access to its systems, records and source code for five years to ensure compliance with the ruling.