Software developers will no longer need to license Microsoft Corp.’s technology for allowing one computer to run multiple operating systems simultaneously.Microsoft already offered the technology without cost, but until Tuesday, developers had to sign a licensing agreement.

The company said it would now offer access to the “virtualization” technology on an open-source basis, giving developers more freedom to adapt it to their needs.

Demand from customers — particularly in the government sector — who use open-source operating systems such as Linux was one of the main reasons for the company to move toward open-source standards, Microsoft spokesman Tom Brookes said.

Microsoft’s flagship Windows operating system remains proprietary, even as the Redmond, Wash., software maker competes with free, open-source systems like Linux. Developers have complained that the proprietary nature of Windows makes it difficult to write programs that compete with Microsoft products like its media-player software.

The European Union in 2004 levied a record $613 million fine on Microsoft and ordered the company to give rivals technical information needed to ensure interoperable products, saying Microsoft had deliberately tried to cripple them as it won control of the market.

Brookes said the decision to offer virtualization license-free was unrelated to the EU dispute.Microsoft cited a study from research group IDC saying it expected about 500,000 servers equipped with the virtual hard-disk technology would enter the marketplace this year, up from almost nothing just three years ago. The study showed that by 2009, about 1.2 billion machines should be equipped with the technology.

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