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Microsoft plans new openness policy
- Thread starter j26
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I guess they want to compete with Linux. It shows how competitive M$ can be. They'll fight with you, even if all you have is 1% of the market.
If they truly meant what they said they'd have done or being in the process of doing some of the following:
Native ODF support in Office.
Native support for NFS in Windows.
Native support for UFS or Ext 2/3 (doesn't matter which) in Windows.
Native support for MP4, AAC support in WMP.
Support for Jabber/XMPP in Windows Live Messenger.
POP3/IMAP support in Hotmail.
Make websites that work in all browsers.
Kill VBScript.
Re-enable VBA support in Mac Office.
Provide help to the mono team.
The only thing that I see changing is that they might produce documentation for their proprietary closed format protocols. Otherwise, they will continue on their merry way, creating Windows-only proprietary formats/protocols whilst 'forgetting' to support competing open formats/protocols.
Native ODF support in Office.
Native support for NFS in Windows.
Native support for UFS or Ext 2/3 (doesn't matter which) in Windows.
Native support for MP4, AAC support in WMP.
Support for Jabber/XMPP in Windows Live Messenger.
POP3/IMAP support in Hotmail.
Make websites that work in all browsers.
Kill VBScript.
Re-enable VBA support in Mac Office.
Provide help to the mono team.
The only thing that I see changing is that they might produce documentation for their proprietary closed format protocols. Otherwise, they will continue on their merry way, creating Windows-only proprietary formats/protocols whilst 'forgetting' to support competing open formats/protocols.
Add to this:
Open up ActiveSync to Mac Clients
Allow Enterage to handle the outlook formats
Open up to other browsers/platforms or kill ActiveX entirely.
ETA: Open up full Exchange functionality to other programs (not IMAP - that doesn't count)
Adapt Outlook and Exchange to not utilize a database system. Change it to how every other UNIX system properly handles mail - as individual files.
Open up ActiveSync to Mac Clients
Allow Enterage to handle the outlook formats
Open up to other browsers/platforms or kill ActiveX entirely.
ETA: Open up full Exchange functionality to other programs (not IMAP - that doesn't count)
Adapt Outlook and Exchange to not utilize a database system. Change it to how every other UNIX system properly handles mail - as individual files.
I read through their press release. This whole thing is not about Microsoft being interoperable with 3rd parties, it's about 3rd parties being interoperable with Microsoft.
At no point does Microsoft state that they will make changes to their business practices so that they will implement interoperability into their own software. Microsoft is basically saying, 'here's the documentation, go and interoperate with us'.
The fact that they are now providing documentation for their protocols is good news, but they would never have done this if it weren't for the anti-trust case that they lost to the European Union.
There's better analysis on Groklaw:
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080221184924826
At no point does Microsoft state that they will make changes to their business practices so that they will implement interoperability into their own software. Microsoft is basically saying, 'here's the documentation, go and interoperate with us'.
The fact that they are now providing documentation for their protocols is good news, but they would never have done this if it weren't for the anti-trust case that they lost to the European Union.
There's better analysis on Groklaw:
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20080221184924826
