xml-dev - Re: SOAP, plague, love

["Dave Winer" <dave@userland.com>]

>>It's unfortunate Microsoft doesn't consider that an issue.

You don't know that, in fact I'm sure they do consider all these things
issues.

Microsoft has a history of being harshly judged, and they've developed a
complementary culture, all they seem to hear is the judgment. I understand
what this is like, we got this kind of treatment at UserLand when we went
commercial in 1998, while the rest of the world was going crazy over open
source. It got so that whenever anyone talked about us I would take it as
unfair criticism. There wasn't a lot of listening going on back then.

I think now is a great time for Microsoft to take a true leadership
position, but it's going to take some coaxing and seduction to make them
comfortable with this idea. One way to help is to lower the temperature a
few degrees, and avoid making statements like that. "What do you really
know?" is a good test to apply to every statement, esp in regards to
Microsoft. It's a fluid situation. Just read the newspapers or listen to the
radio. The ILOVEYOU virus shows that the mainstream is getting somewhat
educated on this stuff. Like it or not, one company is in a position to help
solve the problem more than anyone else, and that's Microsoft. But they're
so defensive, statements like that are likely to trigger a response that you
may not want.

I have friends at Microsoft, I guess by now that should be obvious. They're
just people. Many of them are also good technologists, as good as you or I.
Let's give them a chance to do the right thing.

Dave


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