Computer maker files antitrust suit against Microsoft

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What is this "mysterious API"

...does it use mysterious vapors that only Microsoft programmers can smell, and nobody else? Does it use operating system calls that don't exist for anyone else but Microsoft programemrs?

If an API exists, it is visible, and stacks of books exist to document the undocumented. None of those undocumented features are not replicatable, however. Every innovation in Office could be copied by third parties if they wanted to take the time to use Windows APIs to make them. That's how Microsoft builds its "undocumented APIs"

And lest you think failing to document is a vicious crime, making public APIs that you KNOW are temporary and will change in the next version is a bigger crime, as it makes third parties build on shifting sand. You make things public once they are set in stone, and leave undocumented those internal features you use for your own programs intending someday to change.

Posted by: John Carroll   Posted on: 02/22/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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