Microsoft is under threat 24 hours a day from Google and Yahoo!. It's not just that Google reinvented the search industry and caught Microsoft with its snooze button activated—that has happened numerous times before and Microsoft has bought and coded its way to success in new fields. And it's not just that Google and Yahoo! have made aggressive claims to the desktop with their personal searching programs and widgets.

Next week Microsoft will reportedly open its Web-based products to third-party development by releasing API (Application Programming Interfaces), a tactic both Google and Yahoo! have already embraced. Allowing developers to extend and improve the functions of their services strengthens the core products and the brand reputations of Google and Yahoo!. The danger to Microsoft is in encouraging the trendy shift away from desktop applications to Web applications. Microsoft has never been a consumer services company, and its monstrous legacy business is based on closed incremental products that are starting to look old-fashined. Microsoft has no choice but to allow independent developers keep its fledgling Web services (search, maps, etc.) current and moving forward. [first noticed in Slashdot]