lustratus LiteBytes

Steve’s spotted the announcement of Interop Vendor Alliance…

…(also covered here)– which appears to be about interoperability the Microsoft way: how to get your software to work better with Microsoft’s. And to be fair most large vendors think like this anyway – just most wouldn’t have the nerve to say it so publically.

So what is this really about? If you look at the web-site right now, you will see a lot of case studies and solution descriptions about using Active Directory to manage non-Windows assets from Linux to Mac to Oracle to DB2. All of which sounds rather like a variation on the familiar Microsoft embrace, extend and extinguish strategy (as outlined in the US Department of Justice report on the browser wars). So, is the strategy to embrace interoperability in order to extend Microsoft’s dominant position on their own platform into providing higher level services that span both Microsoft and other platforms? Dominance in a higher level service then enhances the value of using the complete stack as the service will no doubt work best on the Microsoft platform.

Of course given the vaguest of mission statements and the newness of the alliance, it really is too early to make a judgement. What would I like to see? To be honest, I am not sure I see any need for this alliance – except as a website which focuses on all the various standards related activities Microsoft is already engaged in to improve interoperability.

Furthermore, its very existence reinforces the perception that Microsoft stills sees the world as binary: Microsoft and not-Microsoft. This is, of course, an attitude which fundamentally works against smooth interoperability. It is only when Microsoft accepts the reality that it is only a major player in a heterogeneous world will that attitude disappear and interoperability issues hopefully dissipate at the same time.

Ronan