xml-dev - Re: Lotsa laughs

["Steve Oldmeadow" <smo@jst.com.au>]

----- Original Message -----
From: Dave Winer <dave@userland.com>
To: <xml-dev@ic.ac.uk>
Sent: 25/05/1999 10:35
Subject: Re: Lotsa laughs


> >>Like it or not it seems this is something anyone working in e-commerce
> is going to have to take seriously given it has the support of Microsoft,
> SAP, Baan and Peoplesoft.
>
> Famous last words! That's exactly the kind of stuff people said about
> various mail APIs that were floating around just around the time that the
> Internet rewrote all the rules in the software business. No, the size of
> the company doesn't determine the viability of the ideas, not even in the
> corporate world. Gotta learn this one over and over and over and over.
>
> Dave

Last year I was working in a large Government Department that all other
Government Departments had to exchange data with.  The IT strategy of the
Department I was working at was Microsoft.  They will willingly implement
whatever Microsoft throws their way so I can see in the not too distant
future that all Government Departments in the state where I reside will be
using Biztalk whether they like it or not.

Microsoft have captured the hearts and minds of many people who do not want
to hear anything bad about Microsoft and these people don't care about open
standards.  To paraphrase one Microsoftian I was talking to "I just want
products that work together".  A lot of people have been burned by
incompatibilities between products using alleged "Internet" standards and
are now moving back to a one vendor solution.

I'm afraid I disagree with you on the size of the company issue.  I find it
incredibly hard to sell someone on a product from a company they have never
heard of regardless of how great the product is.  If its a product from
Microsoft or Oracle its a different story.  Maybe this is just an Australian
phenomenon?

I don't want anyone to think I'm advocating Biztalk but I think
realistically it is going to get a significant share of the e-commerce
market and therefore can't be ignored.  I'll be very happy if I'm proven
wrong though.

Steve Oldmeadow



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