

Microsoft makes its IE7 browser available to a wider audience






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RE: I guess MS is afraid of...
By Jack Ripoff on 10/7/2007 8:38:41 PM , Rating: 1
I've worked as a software and electrical engineer and manager for many years - and I can tell you that most standards aren't worth the paper they're printed on.

It's not about being a paper standard or even a quality standard. It's about being an open, documented and interoperable standard.

Let's take Java and MSOOXML as examples. Java isn't a paper standard. It's owned by Sun Microsystems. It is, however, multiplatform and can be reimplemented by anyone since it's documented and not dependent on any platform-specific behavior or feature by-design. It runs on mainframes as well as mobile phones. Microsoft's OpenXML, on the other hand, is an ECMA standard, but it relies on behaviors specific to Microsoft Office, references other undocumented and proprietary Microsoft standards (e.g.: WMF) and is generally inconsistent and difficult to implement on a non-Microsoft platform.

I'm not saying this is the best approach in all cases, but it is rather effective in many areas, including the web.

Actually you're saying effectiveness is more important than interoperability.


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