Microsoft wants people to build applications on top of Office, but with Office 2007, they'll have to use the new ribbon-based user interface (UI) or else they'll integrate poorly and look ridiculous. After months of nagging, Microsoft has finally unveiled the solution. Jenson Harris, who led the ribbon UI design, writes on his blog:
Today, we're announcing a licensing program for the 2007 Microsoft Office system user interface which allows virtually anyone to obtain a royalty-free license to use the new Office UI in a software product, including the Ribbon, galleries, the Mini Toolbar, and the rest of the user interface.
Basically you sign up for a free perpetual license in exchange for agreeing to follow Microsoft's UI guidelines. Harris adds:
You can use the UI in open source projects as long as the license terms are consistent with our license. You can use it on any platform: Windows, Mac, Linux, etc. If you're an ISV, you can build and sell a set of controls based on the new Office UI.
There's only one limitation: if you are building a program which directly competes with Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, or Access (the Microsoft applications with the new UI), you can't obtain the royalty-free license.
Harris has made a video for Channel 9, the channel for Microsoft developers. There's also a press release and a Q&A, and a FAQ.
