Posted By: Eugene Taylor

By Robin Pomeroy

ROME (Reuters) - Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT - news) said on Monday it had
provided some essential data to dozens of security software
firms on Monday so their products can work smoothly with the
new Vista operating system.
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Microsoft, previously punished by Brussels over competition
issues, has promised the data to comply with European Union
requirements which stem from a landmark 2004 decision that the
U.S. company used its dominant Windows system to hurt rivals.

The codes are important for the software companies as they
will allow them to suppress Microsoft's own security "pop-ups"
if a PC user decides to buy alternative security software, thus
keeping brands distinct from that of Microsoft.

Separately, Microsoft has yet to develop promised software
essential to the companies so they can block "spyware" and
other malicious software.

It will give Symantec (Nasdaq:SYMC - news), McAfee (NYSE:MFE - news) and other
security firms access to the core, or "kernel," of the 64-bit
version of Vista, the new Windows operating system due for
release in January.

A spokesman for Symantec said technical talks had not
started yet to resolve the issue. "The companies are in
discussions to lay out a timeline for the technical
discussions," said Symantec spokesman Cris Paden.

Software firms had access to the kernel in the past until
Microsoft redesigned its software to block them.

Asked when Microsoft would deliver the data, chief
executive Steve Ballmer told Reuters in Rome: "Today, Seattle
time, not Rome time."

The codes were delivered a short time later, before the
opening of business on the west coast, a spokesman for the
company in Brussels said later.

Ballmer said it was up to the software companies to say if
they were satisfied.

"We have our plan and we are executing it," he said.

The codes are part of changes Microsoft said last week it
would make after the European Commission, the EU's top
antitrust authority, said it had concerns that Microsoft's
design of Vista could push some software makers out of the
market.

The data in question are Application Program Interfaces, or
APIs, which are in essence levers or buttons that other
companies call upon so their software will run on Windows.

The APIs are expected to be made available on a Web site to
which security software providers have exclusive access, a
Brussels-based spokesman for Microsoft said.

KEEPING CLOSE EYE

Other software makers, such as Adobe (Nasdaq:ADBE - news), maker of the
fixed document format (pdf) software, and Google (Nasdaq:GOOG - news), the
search engine, were also worried about Vista because of the way
Microsoft had tied in its own software with similar functions.

On Monday, the Commission said it was up to those companies
to judge whether they were happy with the Vista changes.

"The Commission will keep a close eye on how Vista develops
in the marketplace, and if necessary, if we receive complaints,
we will look into those complaints," Commission spokesman
Jonathan Todd told a regular briefing.

Microsoft's Ballmer said he believed the announced changes
would satisfy the EU executive.

(Additional reporting by Sabina Zawadzki and David Lawsky
in Brussels)

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