The forum reflects Microsoft's recognition that "no single company can address interoperability challenges on its own."
Microsoft launched on April 1 an effort called the Interoperability Forum, a
Web site where customers, developers and members of the broader open-source
community can discuss their interoperability issues, ask questions and get
technical advice.
The forum was first announced in February when Microsoft revealed its
four new interoperability principles designed to
ensure open connections, promote data portability,
enhance support for industry standards, and foster a more open engagement
with customers and the industry, including open-source communities.
At that time Microsoft said
the forum would facilitate an ongoing dialogue with
customers, developers and open-source communities.
Microsoft has also released more than 30,000 pages of documentation for its
Windows client and server protocols.
Microsoft officials talked up the importance of collaboration with
customers, partners and other vendors. For example, Tom Robertson, Microsoft's
general manager for interoperability and standards, noted that "no single
company can address interoperability challenges on its own."
Microsoft plans to "take the lessons learned from the forum, and continue
to work through the Interoperability Vendor Alliance and other industry
mechanisms to collaborate on the development of solutions to those
issues," Robertson said in a statement.
While
the forum can be viewed without signing in, those wishing
to post comments and receive notifications when responses are made to their
questions and posts will have to sign in with a Live ID.
Microsoft has set the forum up to focus on three areas: interoperability
conversations, where participants can ask general questions and identify
issues; technical interoperability scenarios, which will look at
interoperability issues and how they can be best resolved; and the controversial
topic of how to achieve interoperability using industry standards.
"While standards are not the only way to enable interoperability, they
are an important part of the conversation. This forum encourages participants
to start conversations related to standardizing technologies and implementing
standards in products," Microsoft said in a statement.
Microsoft also acknowledged the importance of having multiple technologies
interoperate on multiple platforms, with Jean Paoli, general manager for interoperability
and XML architecture, describing the Interoperability Forum as a means of
conducting the technical discussions and scenario testing that are needed to
develop real-world interoperability solutions for the market.
"We look forward to the productive dialogue and problem-solving that
will take place on the Interoperability Forum," Paoli said.
But Microsoft competitors in the open-source community have
responded with skepticism to news of the software giant's
commitment to greater openness and interoperability, with Linux vendor Red
Hat's General Counsel Michael Cunningham saying it was not surprising to hear
Microsoft finally state that interoperability across systems was an important
requirement and that it was changing its approach on that front.
"Of course, we've heard similar announcements before, almost always
strategically timed for other effect. Red Hat regards this most recent
announcement with a healthy dose of skepticism," Cunningham said.
Microsoft has also denied that its commitment to greater interoperability
and openness was a result of
pressure from the European Commission, though many are not
convinced that is the case.
Peter Galli has been a financial/technology reporter for 12 years at leading publications in South Africa, the UK and the US. He has been Investment Editor of South Africa's Business Day Newspaper, the sister publication of the Financial Times of London.He was also Group Financial Communications Manager for First National Bank, the second largest banking group in South Africa before moving on to become Executive News Editor of Business Report, the largest daily financial newspaper in South Africa, owned by the global Independent Newspapers group.
He was responsible for a national reporting team of 20 based in four bureaus. He also edited and contributed to its weekly technology page, and launched a financial and technology radio service supplying daily news bulletins to the national broadcaster, the South African Broadcasting Corporation, which were then distributed to some 50 radio stations across the country.
He was then transferred to San Francisco as Business Report's U.S. Correspondent to cover Silicon Valley, trade and finance between the US, Europe and emerging markets like South Africa. After serving that role for more than two years, he joined eWeek as a Senior Editor, covering software platforms in August 2000.
He has comprehensively covered Microsoft and its Windows and .Net platforms, as well as the many legal challenges it has faced. He has also focused on Sun Microsystems and its Solaris operating environment, Java and Unix offerings. He covers developments in the open source community, particularly around the Linux kernel and the effects it will have on the enterprise.
He has written extensively about new products for the Linux and Unix platforms, the development of open standards and critically looked at the potential Linux has to offer an alternative operating system and platform to Windows, .Net and Unix-based solutions like Solaris.
His interviews with senior industry executives include Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, Linus Torvalds, the original developer of the Linux operating system, Sun CEO Scot McNealy, and Bill Zeitler, a senior vice president at IBM.
For numerous examples of his writing you can search under his name at the eWEEK Website at www.eweek.com.
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