Q: The first document talked
about extending standard protocols as a way to "deny OSS projects entry
into the market." What does this mean?
A: To better serve customers, Microsoft needs to innovate
above standard protocols. By innovating above the base protocol, we are able to
deliver advanced functionality to users. An example of this is adding
transactional support for DTC over HTTP. This would be a value-add and would in
no way break the standard or undermine the concept of standards, of which
Microsoft is a significant supporter. Yet it would allow us to solve a class of
problems in value chain integration for our Web-based customers that are not
solved by any public standard today. Microsoft recognizes that customers are not
served by implementations that are different without adding value; we therefore
support standards as the foundation on which further innovation can be based.
You mean lock-in? Robert X. Cringely notes that IBM tried that with Ethernet, trying to sell the proprietary Token-Ring extensions to their customers. That didn’t work.
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