Redmond, Apr 10: Microsoft said on Wednesday it would allow hardware makers to modify its software used to control devices such as handheld computers and cash registers, marking a more flexible approach by a company famous for closely guarding its technology. As Microsoft seeks renewed growth beyond its main market of software for personal computers, it has been promoting software for everything from network servers to gaming consoles and portable devices.

That in turn has propelled it into fiercer competition with Linux, the open-source operating system that can be freely copied and modified, analysts have said.
The new, more open licensing initiative applies to Microsoft's Windows CE software embedded into the circuitry of devices such as cell phones, personal digital assistants and factory robots.
Microsoft, which has always protected its core operating system software from commercial modification, is now making its embedded software more accessible, so that hardware makers can change basic features of Windows CE, for instance to add functionality for a digital camera or wireless connections.
"This is the first time Microsoft has allowed derivative modifications to be produced from a platform product," Craig Mundie, Microsoft's chief technology officer, told reporters in a conference call. Bureau Report