RSSGates Promises Interoperable Software
By Nate Mook | Published February 4, 2005, 11:55 AM
In a letter to customers this week, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates made a promise to design software that is interoperable with other systems. Although Redmond is traditionally known for its closed formats and code, Gates said communication between applications is critical for business.
He also took a swipe at open source, saying such development hinders interoperability.
E-mails directly from Gates usually signify the start to major initiatives within Microsoft. His letters have previously focused on security issues and changes to Redmond development policies to better protect customers. But now, Gates has shifted his attention toward industry standards.
"Microsoft has been working with the industry to advance a new generation of software that is interoperable by design, reducing the need for custom development and cumbersome testing and certification," said Gates. "These efforts are centered on using XML, which makes information self-describing - and thus more easily understood by different systems."
Gates cited the use of XML in Office 2003 as one example of how Microsoft is pushing interoperability. "Office documents, spreadsheets and forms can be saved in an XML file format that is freely available for anyone to license and use. Office also supports customer-defined XML schema beyond the existing Office document types," he said.
However, the company's Office formats have become a point of contention, as although Microsoft makes use of the open XML architecture, its formats are closed and encumbered by licensing restrictions. The state of Massachusetts recently found itself unsure of how to classify Microsoft's Office formats under its new "Open Standards" policy.
"I think Microsoft is premature trumpeting the open-format messaging. And to be clear, by any definition typically applied to file formats, Office isn't open," Jupiter Research senior analyst Joe Wilcox told BetaNews.
But Gates made clear in his letter that interoperability does not equate to open source. He said that interoperability is about how different software systems work together, regardless of licensing and development. Gates claimed that open source could actually have a detrimental effect on making software interoperable.
"The open source development approach encourages the creation of many permutations of the same type of software application, which could add implementation and testing overhead to interoperability efforts," Gates argued.
Maybe Billy spellcheck couldn't correct the typo. I think he wanted to promise "Inoperable Software". But, well, that's not news but tradition...
No, really, I hope Bill suddently see the light and once in his life M$ make a good, compatible and "open" software. Open format software is the begining I mean, I'm not dreaming about open source, of course...
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I would rather have software that works, and yes it does work well, then having a piece of free software that you end up paying a third party company to support. If you are a business (small, medium, or large) you will end up paying for the product out of one pocket or the other. Free does not mean free and time and testing should tell you that free often cost you more in back-end costs. Office has traveled further in development than any other product and should be considered as such.
FYI... The spell checkers that most companies use is based off of Wang's old spell check technology and royalties are paid. Intellectual property is just that, property. If you were the builder of Disney, would you let everyone come for free.
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If I were builder of Disney, I would give it to the public to help build. Everyone would be allowed for free. The visitors would donate money and work to help out something they beleive in. It will not be limited to those that can afford it.
hey, you asked
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I hope you don't really expect anyone to believe that. You can say that because you are supporting your idealism, in this case that open source works and is great. (which it is).
If somebody actually gave you Disney, you would not give it away. You would shift your thinking immediately and start charging lots of money. Anybody would.
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iDMAN, your comment sounds like propaganda. It's a fact wide proven that open source works, not idealism at all.
Large corporations already started using open source alternatives. And maybe they need to contract some specialist to solve a problem working with open source software, which is much better that wait the next service pack, that usually break something else.
I like your example about Disney. It could be compared to Microsoft, both make me smile when I look to their products...
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I am from USA, but I hate the fact that it is run by money and greed, and liars. People have turned from helping neighbors to charging neighbors. There is no love in most uses of money, other than donating. Neighbors helping neighbors is what Open Source is about.
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Here some one goes again, "It is a wide proven fact." Lets see them. I can list examples, can you. And I am speaking of Linux implementations. I can list them, again can you. If you document something as a proven fact, list a link to your source. We have all had to take English, or perhaps in your case, French. Regardless, facts need to be backed up.
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than a format that is "available for anyone to license" from Microsoft. Windows, Office, etc.- those are also available to license if you pay Bill his Computer Tax.
This is the kind of thing you will be subjected to if you support non-free commercial software. Get off the bandwagon now! Use as much free software as you can. The law will never make all software free- only you as a consumer can do it by refusing to give your money to these robbers. If you give them money, they will survive to keep stealing money tomorrow. The sooner commercial software dies, the sooner we will all have interoperable free open source software.
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well put!
:-)
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Could this be a tip that Office-Longhorn will switch over to XML format for its .doc/.xls formats? Possibly.
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From what I have seen, to say that open source hinders interoperability is a load of bologna. The open source community have done so many things to make things more interoperable, and they are certainly setting good examples for others to follow. The top two things I can think of are OpenOffice (it opens .doc files and its own format) and Samba (allows a Linux computer to share resources (i.e. printers and files)).
I have yet to see Microsoft making efforts to extend the same courtesy that the open open source community is.
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Well, where's my frikkin letter. I didn't get one? Did you get one? I buy lots of MS stuff. It's not fair. I could get his signature, and be a groopie. It's just not fair.
>
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I might add, that OpenOffice.Org already uses XML as their formats too.
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You sound like someone who does not run Microsoft platforms. Microsoft uses Industry standards for their servers to allow any platform to connect. Yes, any platform. I have worked in an organization where Unix, Linux, Windows, Macs, and even thin platforms have the same ability to connect to Mail, File, and Print all provided by Microsoft.
And if you are in an organization and have nothing to do with purchasing, you might think that Samba is free. Samba is not free and you don't have access to the code. Samba is also SOLD with support. Just like Oracle on Linux, you pay for the Application and Support. You do not receive the source.
People that are cowards can never be happy... Be courageous and admit that Microsoft has done something in the Computer World. With that realization, you would come across as a lot less negative. And, your words would be accepted with more support. I can easily admit that Linux has done some good things. And, they have even helped companies reestablish themselves with new life and new products when they previously had one foot out the door.
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all I have to say is that I would rather have linux under the hood of my car than windows. at least I would be assured that I would get where I am going without caling a tow truck
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"I have worked in an organization where Unix, Linux, Windows, Macs, and even thin platforms have the same ability to connect to Mail, File, and Print all provided by Microsoft."
Yes, but if you had a Unix server, would you be able to connect from Microsoft? The connecting to MS server from Linux is done through Samba, which IS OPEN SOURCE. MS is not making compatability with other OSs, OSs are making compatable with MS. After all, why would MS introduce their own .wma file when .mp3 existed, both of which are closed source. Also, why does WMP not support the .ogg open souce audio format, which is comparable to .mp3 and .wma? They are not making compatability, they are breaking it! Same with Apple. They are all about money. I'll admit that much.
"Samba is not free and you don't have access to the code. Samba is also SOLD with support."
http://us2.samba.org/samba/download/ is where you can get the source. Like many Linux flavours, you can get the version for free, without tech support, or you can buy the tech support and get more programs too.
Unfortunately, this world has turned from "neighbors helping neighbors" as a favor, to "you want me to help you - what's it worth to you?"
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Seriously... Is this the code you are running? I would like to see your Service Level Agreement with your customer base. People who sell Samba, and there are many, do so and only offer binary. Let me repeat that... ...only offer the Binary.
What is the last generation of Windows you have used? This is really important because I could connect to and from a Windows 2000 box, and it has been improved with the newer versions.
Be careful what you say because I work with both Windows and Linux. You obviously only work with one and make "judgement calls" and bias "judgement calls" at that. If there is something that you can learn from the rules of war, we don't fight battles without gathering intelligence... Just make my day and attack that.
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Spoken like a person who has never actually had to patch a Linux box. Are you talking about reboots?
Gentlemen, I encourage all to study "Facts" and use a lot less "Uneducated guesses." This will help you if you ever decide to run an IT shop.
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"The open source development approach encourages the creation of many permutations of the same type of software application, which could add implementation and testing overhead to interoperability efforts," Gates argued.
That's been my thoughts all along--open source brings problems since my UNIX could be one of several thousand different UNIX variants, even if it showed as the same version number. Just one example.
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I have often thought the same thing about different variations in open source.
What Mr. Gates is probably also implying is that open standards is a better route, not necessarily open source.
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Standards compliance and Open Source software are 2 different things. I believe that difference may be lost on you and Bill. You could have 80,000 variations of UNIX that all support the same file formats. For Bill to make a comment like that about open source is simply laughable coming a from a company that has intentionally broken interoperablity to make more money. Please.
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this is the key. as i write this i'm downloading the latest parts of Mono from SVN on *NIX based machine. what flavor? doesn't matter. there are some many types that developers spend most of their time makeing sure that they have cross-platform (or fixing cross-platform bugs) that they lose site of the major goal. then you get companies like Redhat and Mozilla, both backed by money (and don't confuse not paying for software with developers not getting paid) making the largest contributions. what mozilla has done for the browser window is something that a totally free software couldn't do. open source, yes, but free, no.
MS is talking about opening the "communication" between platform/programs. this includes file formats and things like web services. if anyone thought for a single moment that MS was going to make Office 2003 save files in XML format by default, they were crazy. MS has to innovate but also has to support a "legacy" base of hundreds of millions of customers. if they suddenly switched to XML, either they would break everything and/or no one would buy their product. and in the end, MS is about making a profit. if making a profit also includes bettering standards, then great. but the profit is the key.
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gee, I wonder why it would be a problem, since everything I ever installed on linux I had to compile to install. for those who dont know, when you compile it takes your machine and software info and optimizes the program FOR you. It is all done in steps that use tools that are common in ALL linux distributions. I dont see where this would cause added costs to the developer.
Once again, Gates farts and the world mistakes it for an intelligent comment
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I hope this does not mean he is going to try to prevent the following. Prevent other software that is not Microsoft approved from running on loghorn.
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