SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft said Thursday that it would make important technology elements of some of its best-selling software products widely available, to increase the compatibility of its software with that of competitors and customers.

Microsoft said it would publish vital software blueprints, known as application program interfaces, pertaining to the high-volume products on its Web site, which will make connecting its products with third-party software easier.

Microsoft also pledged not to sue open-source developers for the noncommercial distribution of those software blueprints.

“These steps represent an important step and significant change in how we share information about our products and technologies,” said the Microsoft chief executive, Steve Ballmer.

In January, the European Commission began a new antitrust investigation into Microsoft to see whether the company broke competition rules to help its Web browser and its Office and Outlook products.

Microsoft said it would provide the commission with information to allow it to evaluate the companys changes.

SINGAPORE: Virgin Galactic, the billionaire Richard Bransons space travel venture, plans to order five more spaceships and aims to turn a profit in five years from its commercial start in 2010, Alex Tai, the firms group director, said Thursday.

Prospective space travellers have so far placed deposits totaling more than $31 million for tickets that cost $200,000 each and would give them five minutes in space, Tai said.

“In the short term, we have firm orders for five spaceships and options for seven,” Tai said during an interview at the Singapore Airshow. “We believe there is a very strong market.”

About 80,000 people from 120 countries have shown interest in these commercial space flights that are likely to start in 2010. Seriously interested travellers are asked to deposit at least $20,000, according to Virgin Galactics Web site (http://www.virgingalactic.com).

“It really is a life-time experience,” Tai said.

Virgin, which wants to be the first to take paying passengers into space on a regular basis, will invest $250 million in the space program, Tai said.

He declined to give the cost of each craft or the maker, though some parts will come from Pratt Whitney, the jet engine unit of United Technologies.

Asked when the company would become profitable, Tai said: “I imagine it will be inside the first five years.”

Virgins SpaceShipTwo, introduced last month and to be tested later this year, will be able to carry 8 people into suborbital space. Virgin expects to start with one flight a week before ramping it up to 14 flights a week.

For $200,000, Virgin will prepare space travellers over three days for their 2-hour flight beyond Earths atmosphere that will culminate in five minutes in space. The three-day program will include simulating a zero- gravity environment, showing travellers what it means to accelerate and decelerate quickly, as well as what the Earth looks like from space, Tai said. The spaceship will initially be launched from Mojave, California, but will eventually take off from a space port in New Mexico.

Virgin Galactic is one of several contenders in the new commercial space race. Others include Astrium, the space arm of the European Aeronautic Defense Space; Blue Origin, started by the Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos; Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), created by the PayPal founder Elon Musk; and Bigelow Aerospace, a venture aimed at creating space hotels, started by the hotel owner Robert Bigelow.

It’s not exactly the best seat in the house, but I have wriggled my way on to a stool between a man smoking a pipe and two fur-coated women tucking into cream cakes. But then, I haven’t come to Vienna for ethical or political correctness. I have come for cake.

No matter how many alleyways you wander up in this glittering yuletide city there is a cake not far behind you. Just as you think you are safe from the ongoing orgy of butter cream and nougatine there is another window piled high with cake stands and coffee pots daring you to walk past. But to walk past would be to miss the whole point. Demel is to cake what Manolo Blahnik is to shoes, and a seat at the long wooden bar (or more comfortably in the salon upstairs) of this institution is my first port of call. This is the 175th birthday of the Sachertorte and I’m not going to let it pass unnoticed.

Sachertorte is the world’s most famous grown-up chocolate cake, and as such it tends to disappoint more than it charms. Many people find its elegant simplicity something of an anti-climax. They come in a ’show me’ state of mind and expect it to be twice the size and three times the richness. Perhaps they confuse it with the Black Forest gateau - such a vulgar treat when properly made - or one of those slabs of truffle-style restaurant cake that is really a pudding in denial.

I love this Viennese confection for its understatement - no cream, no cherries, no booze, no swirls or curlicues. I love its shiny icing; the faint tang of fruit from the wafer-thin layer of apricot jam, and the single badge of dark chocolate that is its only adornment. But what I like most is the fact that it is cake. Most chocolate cakes nowadays seem to think they are a souffle, a giant truffle or a slice of wet mousse. Others, further down the social scale, seem to think they are a hat, but we are not concerned with those. The Sachertorte carries a certain unfussy dignity. It is a cake that doesn’t have to shout.

The original recipe and its ownership was the subject of the ’sweet seven years war’, a court case involving the Sacher Hotel and Demel over the rights to use the word ‘original’ when selling the cake. Whatever, there is something perfect about the sight of a small slice on a tiny marble table, a cup of dark coffee and a cake fork by its side.

There is much debate, too, over the addition of the apricot jam. A slither of preserve - and it really must be so thin as to be almost invisible - must be present otherwise it simply isn’t Sachertorte. The debate is about where it goes. Demel puts theirs directly under the icing, the Sacher Hotel puts it in a line in the middle of the cake. As I see it, if the recipe is to retain some sort of classical status then the apricot layer should surely be under the icing. Sticking it in the middle is in danger of making it look just a little too much like a sponge at a fete.

But right now, squidged between the customers from hell, with a little of the dense crumb, the tart jam and darkly sensual chocolate icing on my fork is the best way I can think of to say Happy Birthday, Sachertorte. And Happy New Year to you all.

Sachertorte

There are many versions of the chocolate icing used to cover a Sachertorte. I find most of them too sweet and prefer to go for a covering of crisp melted chocolate instead. Pure heresy, I might add.

175g dark chocolate, at least 70 per cent cocoa solids (I use Lindt Extreme)

150g butter

150g caster sugar

6 large eggs

140g plain flour

for the glaze:

150g apricot jam - sieved

for the chocolate icing:

250g dark chocolate

60g butter

Set the oven at 180C/gas mark 4. Line the base of a 22cm round cake tin with lightly buttered greaseproof or baking paper. Break the chocolate into a heat-proof bowl and melt it over a pan of boiling water.

Cream the butter and two-thirds of the sugar together till very light and fluffy - something like 8-10 minutes in the food mixer at a moderate speed.

Separate the eggs, then, when (and only when) the sugar and butter are white and fluffy, beat the egg yolks one at a time. Gently stir in the melted chocolate. Add the flour, through a sieve if you wish, stirring carefully but firmly until it is all combined.

Whisk the egg whites till firm, then stir in the remaining 50g of sugar a spoonful at a time. I usually take the whites till they will just about keep their shape, but stop before they are capable of sitting in stiff peaks. Fold them carefully, lightly, into the chocolate mixture. The easiest way to do this is to add a little of the chocolate mixture to the eggs first, then slowly incorporate the rest. It is a job for a gentle hand, and you need to take your time and do it thoroughly.

Scrape the cake mixture into the lined cake tin and bake for about 50 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting a metal skewer into the centre: it should come out moist but without any uncooked cake mixture on it. Run a palette knife around the edge of the cake and turn it upside down on to a cooling rack. Leave to cool.

Melt the apricot jam in a small saucepan. If it has large lumps of fruit then it is traditional to sieve it, so that you can get a thin enough layer on top. Pour over the cake, smoothing over the top and sides.

To make the chocolate frosting, break the chocolate into squares in a heat-proof glass bowl and let it warm over a small saucepan containing simmering water. Don’t stir the chocolate, but turn off the heat after a couple of minutes. Stir in the butter in small pieces. Pour the chocolate frosting over the apricot glaze and leave to set.

Whipped cream

No self-respecting Sachertorte would be seen without its accompaniment of perfectly whipped cream.

300ml whipping or double cream

1 tbsp icing sugar

a tiny drop of vanilla extract

Put a metal or glass mixing bowl in the fridge to chill. When it is cool, pour the cream into the bowl and whisk till it starts to thicken. Now work slowly, and stop whisking when the cream starts to feel heavy on the whisk. Stir in the icing sugar and the dash of vanilla extract. Keep thoroughly chilled till needed.

nigel.slater@observer.co.uk