Since that time, Microsoft has consistently received high marks from developers, according to John Andrews, president of Evans Data Corp., a Santa Cruz, Calif. high-tech research firm focusing on software development.

"In the last five years, the benchmarking has ranked Microsoft either 1, 2 or 3 -- never lower," Andrews said, adding that Evans' twice-yearly surveys are "developer-driven and vendor-neutral."

Dash, a former developer working mostly on Microsoft platforms, said Microsoft's openness contrasts with traditionally-secretive companies such as Apple Computer Inc. or Google Inc. The latter "is simply not even in the game when it comes to product roadmaps or technology roadmaps," Dash said. "Where Microsoft outlines years in advance how they'll be evolving APIs, Google starts and shuts down services with absolutely zero notice to developers, sometimes even ending APIs like the SOAP Search API, which is something Microsoft has almost never done."

Dash said the biggest recent blemish on Microsoft's record was its last-minute removal of features in Windows Vista aimed at developers.

"The removal or delay of technologies such as WinFS and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), after having aggressively promoted those platforms at developer events for over a year, was astonishing, even though it's turned out to be the appropriate thing to do for the platform overall," he said.