Sun has veto power and they don't throw away excellent ideas
Rod, Sun doesn't just have veto power. They also reserve the right to take the "standard" in any direction they choose. They did this with the KVM, and a great number of licensees cried foul to no avail.
Sun doesn't really have a more open process, but they are very successful selling it as open. Usually, those who aren't involved believe it.
For the SOAP summit, Microsoft invited close to 1000 companies including IBM/Lotus, Oracle, and I believe even Sun. The attendees discussed the technology and suggested changes that were incorporated into the spec. The UPnP forum is another example. Even back in the days when Netscape was adding HTML tags by the minute, Microsoft worked closely with the W3C to evolve the HTML standard in a way that helped prevent even more divergence than that which occurred.
Even when Microsoft developed its Java technology, it invited Sun and all of the Java licensees to very early design reviews where people could learn about Microsoft's plans and affect changes.
I have rarely encountered people who have tried to be involved in the Microsoft process and continue to call it closed. At the same time, the most vehement critics invariably come from Microsoft's competitors.
I believe that Microsoft has, in the past, made mistakes or not done as good a job as it could to involve partners and customers, but this is not unique to Microsoft and less purposeful than their competitors would have you believe.
If there's a viable open technology, Microsoft will destroy it by creating a vastly inferior but highly proprietary version
Rod, this doesn't make any sense. People have choice. Always have. In almost every case, they will chose the solution that works best for them, not one that is inferior. As far as closed systems, it is the openness of Microsoft's systems that have allowed a huge number of third party Windows products to emerge.
You come across as quite biased against Microsoft. Have you had a personal experience that has caused you to feel this way?
Mike |
