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Microsoft has agreed to release more technical information to security companies so they can make their products work with Vista, Microsoft's next operating system due early next year.

Microsoft earlier said it had already released APIs - the information software developers need to make products which will interoperate with Vista.

Presumably, Microsoft's change of heart has to do with recent discussions with the European Commission which led to Ballmer promising last week that Vista would ship in Europe and Korea - that the company had done enough to satisfy anti-trust regulators. For its part the commission pointedly said it was not "green-lighting" the launch.

McAfee and other security companies have accused Microsoft of deliberately locking out security rivals.

McAfee took out full-page adverts in The FT to complain about Microsoft's actions and has also complained to the EC.

Security firms are not commenting until they see the actual APIs the software giant is prepared to release.

More from Reuters here.

In related news, the European Commission told Adobe it should go and talk to Microsoft if it wants to know what changes have been made to Vista.

Adobe has expressed concern about the "save as pdf" feature. Microsoft agreed on Friday to make certain changes to satisfy EC regulators. ®

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