[CLUE-Tech] [Fwd: [discuss] the threat to OOo filters]

[Kevin Cullis]

Hi,

Thought you all might like to read where OO is going and what MS is
doing about it.

Kevin

James Treleaven wrote:
> 
> I am surprised that I have not seen any discussion of the CNET article:
> "New Windows could solve age-old format puzzle--at a price", which is posted
> on the CNET News.com site: http://news.com.com/2009-1017-857509.html
> 
> It talks about replacing Microsoft's "antiquated file system with modern
> database technology" which will "mean easier, faster and more reliable
> searches for information".
> 
> The sidebar to the article says:
> "Microsoft is replacing the plumbing of its Windows operating system with
> technology borrowed from its SQL Server database software.  Currently,
> documents, Web pages, e-mail files, spreadsheets and other information are
> stored in separate, mostly incompatible software.  The new technology will
> unify storage in a single database built into Windows that's more easily
> searchable, more reliable, and accessible across corporate networks and the
> Internet."
> 
> So - Microsoft wants to get rid of application files and store everything in
> a database.  How convenient.
> 
> It is a brilliant strategic move.  After all, Microsoft users are not
> 'chained down' by their loyalty to Windows - they are chained down by their
> loyalty to their most heavily used Office applications - principally Word
> and Excel.
> 
> Openoffice.org hopes to win these users over, but to do so we rely on the
> critical interoperability provided by our import/export filters.  I
> personally have been writing letters to antitrust officials begging them to
> force Microsoft to publish the specifications of the file formats for their
> Office applications.  Such publication would just about completely level the
> playing field, and allow users to use whichever office productivity
> applications they like.  This in turn would give people much more
> flexibility in choosing operating systems.
> 
> But just think - what if there were no file formats to publish?  'Sorry
> judge, we would like to - but the data is not stored in files.  It is stored
> in a database that is an indivisible part of the operating system.'
> 
> The database records will of course be totally inaccessible to any program
> other than the application that stored them - for security reasons.  Throw
> in some encryption, and if Microsoft is really smart, a patented API by
> which applications read/write to/from the datastore - and interoperability
> with other office applications will become a priori impossible.
> 
> People will still need to collaborate on documents of course (that is, to
> exchange 'files').  But the documents will simply move (via .NET) from the
> datastore buried deep in the guts of a Windows OS running on one computer,
> to a datastore embedded in a MS OS running on another computer.  Microsoft
> will gradually make the whole thing more and more opaque ... to the point at
> which people will not even think of files anymore.  The concept of 'files'
> may be something that is taught to our great grandchildren in history class.
> 
> While the US Department of Justice is busy conceding the last war - the one
> in which Microsoft 'integrated' Internet Explorer in the operating system -
> Microsoft is moving its battalions ahead to win the coming war.
> 
> The CNET article, to which I referred, says that Microsoft is hard at work
> on this new 'storage technology' - and the breathless tone of the article
> indicates that Microsoft is hard at work selling the concept and all of its
> 'benefits' to the public.
> 
> We shouldn't underestimate the cunning of Microsoft's strategy of
> integrating more and more functionality into the operating system.  Combined
> with an opaque OS hosted datastore and .NET - this strategy could allow
> Microsoft to achieve a critical mass of proprietary interconnections which
> could quickly grow to be completely unassailable.
> 
> James
> 
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"Success is never final, failure is never fatal" - Kevin Cullis
---
Kevin Cullis
kcullis at coloradoexcellence.org
303-893-CPEX (2739) Main
720-489-9283 Direct
Colorado Performance Excellence, Inc
http://www.coloradoexcellence.org