In a Q&A, Neelie Kroes, who fined MS for not complying with the EC's antitrust ruling, said: "I regret that the Commission has had to take such a step today, but given Microsoft's continued non-compliance to date, I have been left with no alternative. Today's decision reflects my determination to ensure that Microsoft complies with its obligations.Microsoft has claimed that its obligations in the decision are not clear, or that the obligations have changed. I cannot accept this characterisation - Microsoft's obligations are clearly outlined in the 2004 decision and have remained constant since then."
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Member since:2005-06-29
Sounds like a fair advantage. You don't document internal API's because:
1.) They change.
I don't need a number 2, that's simply why you don't give public docs on internal calls, because when you change them you'll anger many people who assumed they were stable.
If Microsoft wants to have the Excel team use internal calls to get a constant speed advantage, good for them! They'll be the only ones in industry who'll be able to easily keep up with the changes to these internal functions.
Member since:2006-06-22
Fair it is not, nor can it be! But to try to justify with
" 1.) They change"
is an insult to ones intellect. Please refrain from posting such mindless comments. In case that you need facts to rebute your statement (I can't believe I'm doing this)... :
Excell still works even when you don't update it at all while at the same time you upgrade OS (say from Win98 to WinXP) and/or you apply patches and updates.
API's usually don't change, it is their implementation that changes.
Member since:2006-07-04
Please provide evidence that Excel uses internal apis, if you can. And if you cant, don't make the charge. You have no evidence that it does. (Oh, and there's a Mac version of Excel too, do you think it uses internal windows funcions as well?)
And again, the EU case has absolutely nothing to do with your unsubstantiated claims that Microsoft's non-OS programs make use of internal functions.
And your post was actually modded up. What a joke.
Member since:2006-01-02
I think old office apps like Excel and Word use old, undocumented APIs, but it's usually a case of "this is old cruft that we have always used and we don't want to re-code everything, why would anyone else want to use this?"
What could office want to do for better performance that an internal API would help with? Fast loading in office is achieved by making sure DLLs don't get rebased and delay-loading as much as possible. Once office is loaded, almost everything else is gated by the speed of the person at the keyboard.
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Member since:
2005-07-06
"Do you know the difference between internal functions and public APIs?"
Sure, but explain to me why it is okay for the Excel team to use Windows "internal" functions that no other spreadsheet vendor gets any information about.
Unless you're of the opinion that Excel is in fact part of the Windows operating system, Microsoft has effectively gained an advantage by using function calls only they know about. The only way they could do this without having their 3rd party developers giving them the fingers is simply the fact that Microsoft are in a monopoly position.
And boy, do they abuse it.