Approximately two years ago, Microsoft announced a visceral change in strategy designed to make its products more open and to encourage interoperability. Essentially, the Redmond company provided access through what it referred to as open connections to all its high-volume products including Windows, Windows Server, SQL Server, the Office, Exchange, and Office SharePoint Server. The commitment made by the software giant at that time was kept, with the latest release of standards documentation now available for Exchange Server 2010 and Outlook.

“The Exchange Server and Outlook Standards Documents describe Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and Outlook support for industry messaging standards and Requests for Comments (RFCs) related to iCalendar, IMAP4, and POP3,” Microsoft stated. Back in February 2008, the company insisted that it was embracing interoperability and opening the way for software developers, business partners, and competitors to build third-party solutions which can better interact with Microsoft products.

As far as the Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and Outlook Standards Documentation is concerned, customers can download either a complete ZIP package or individual PDF documents. According to the company, the resources are sufficient to allow third-parties to not just implement the protocol specifications described, but to also evaluate or understand the protocols. No less than 4 interoperability principles have guided Microsoft since the landmark February 2008 announcement: “ensuring open connections; (2) promoting data portability; (3) enhancing support for industry standards; and (4) fostering more open engagement with customers and the industry, including open source communities.”

“The Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and Outlook Standards documentation is intended for use in conjunction with publicly available standard specifications and network programming art, and assumes that the reader either is familiar with the aforementioned material or has immediate access to it. A protocol specification does not require the use of Microsoft programming tools or programming environments in order for you to develop an implementation. If you have access to Microsoft programming tools and environments you are free to take advantage of them,” Microsoft stated.

Exchange Server 2010 is available for download here.