Microsoft is committed to establish the Office System into a platform that can be equivalent to its Windows operating system. The sixth annual Microsoft Financial Services Developer Conference was the stage for the releasing of the Financial Services OBA Component Library. The library is designed to permit software developers to create programs set-up to run on top of the Office 2007 System. In this manner, Microsoft aims to increase the dependency on the Office System by fostering an ecosystem of solutions tailored to the platform. Building an environment of applications, partners and customers around Office, will help Microsoft deal with the threat represented by web-based rival products, without having to migrate its own solution in the cloud.

The Financial Services OBA Component Library is aimed at just a fragment of the market, addressing the needs of financial services firms, including insurance and capital markets companies as well as banks. "Financial services firms are seeking to leverage information technology to respond to volatile and evolving market conditions, while at the same time making investments that integrate into the way people actually work," said Mike Walker, architecture strategist for the Worldwide Financial Services Group at Microsoft.

The library will enable developers to deal with various issues associated with solutions created for the Office platform, from interoperability to extending legacy systems, but even building graphical user interfaces. The Redmond company refers to the applications built upon the 2007 Microsoft Office system as Microsoft OBAs. "The OBA Component Library gives firms a head start toward developing solutions by providing real-world scenarios that illustrate how new business applications can be built, and existing systems improved, using Microsoft Office technologies to overcome common challenges," Walker added.

The Library permits the assembling of OBA components into new programs that will take advantage of Office 2007 as a platform. There are no less than 90 components in the Financial Services OBA Component Library, and with them Microsoft targets the financial sector, building the momentum of Office 2007.