On Thu, 17 Feb 2005 15:50:36 GMT, Bob Martin
wrote:


I hesitate to disagree with someone whose illustrious namesake was my
boss for many years, but Microsoft's attitude to standards was (and
probably still is) quite simple : attend the meeting and if everyone
agrees to do it MS's way then fine, it becomes a standard. If not MS
goes away and does things its own way and to hell with the rest of the
world. More often than not, MS's way was NOT the best way.


It's worse than you think - my full name is Thomas J. Watson Jr.

As to what is best - it is often necessary in business to simply move
forward. In fact, that may be the essence of leadership - moving
forward.

The concept of what is best can be, and often is, discussed ad
nauseam.

Business is, like politics, the art of the possible.

Microsoft did not enter into a position of hegemony by being the best
engineers and designers. They got there by being the best business
people.

The benefits to someone like me are that I can count on sending an
Excel sheet to China and not worry about them being able to open it.
I can send a Word document to Germany without any fear of
incompatibility.

If the standards are de facto rather than de jure, and if they are
evolving, rather than fixed - so be it. The marketplace will continue
to define what is acceptable and smart businesses will continue to
address the concerns of the marketplace in the best way possible at
the time.




tjwatson1ATcomcastDOTnet (real email)
http://home.comcast.net/~tjwatson1 (webpage)