Microsoft's Interoperability Trust Problem

In an earlier, post Matusow asked for feedback about the company's licensing efforts, resulting from recent Microsoft activities, such as the Novell deal and the Interoperability Vendor Alliance.

"One thing that jumped out at me about many of these postings is the sense that a lack of trust in our motivations is a key factor for you all," he wrote. "I am unclear as to why then it is a problem for us to clarify something so that motivations are not an issue." Matusow then went on to explain how some of Microsoft's licensing efforts, starting with Shared Source, demonstrate openness and trustworthiness.

I'm a little stunned that Matusow, or anyone at Microsoft, would wonder about trust issues. Judged by its actions, Microsoft has given customers and partners plenty of reasons to question its sincerity. The problem: Many of Microsoft's partner interactions are one sided. They are given on Microsoft's terms, often with the first benefit going back to the company. Another: Microsoft's actions don't often synch with its public relations efforts.

Matusow touted Microsoft's efforts with file translators for supporting the Open Document Format as example of sincerity. "There were significant concerns about ODF/Open XML compatibility and we launched an open source project called the Open XML Translator," he wrote. Who's doing the work? The company has enlisted third parties, including Novell. Microsoft would do its own development work if it was really committed to productivity suite interoperability, With about $7 billion dollars dedicated to research and development, surely Microsoft could spare a few bucks and a couple developers for creating file format filters. First benefit goes to Microsoft, which got some PR bang from the announcement, while third parties end up doing the real work.

"We also put in place an unprecedented [intellectual property] indemnification policy for our customers and partners," Matusow wrote. I chuckle every time some Microsoft executive brings up IT indemnification. C`mon on, what company is going to sue its customers? Businesses using Linux are damn likely to have Windows and Office on the desktop. I see Microsoft's promise not to sue as being fairly empty. Microsoft now says it may indemnify its customers using Red Hat Linux. Red Hat has even more reasons not to sue its customers than Microsoft. The companies share the same customers. Again, first benefit goes to Microsoft, which applies pressure on Red Hat through its PR effort, while appearing the more concerned for customers.

Vendor-to-vendor lawsuits are a whole other matter. These potential lawsuits have got to be of increasing concern for Microsoft, particularly as more businesses use Linux. After all, Microsoft licensing terms and the GPL are like oil and water. They simply don't mix. Microsoft's covenant-not-sue approach is its make-shift way for working around the oil-and-water licensing models. Equal first benefit goes to Microsoft and Novell, because the SuSe maker got a heap of cash from the software giant.

Yesterday, I blogged about Microsoft's feet dragging in Europe, where trustbusters are complaining yet again about the company's reluctance to quickly and fully disclosure protocol information. The European Union's March 2004 ruling against Microsoft asserted that the company uses its dominance on the desktop to gain unfair competitive advantage on the server. If the EU claims are true, Microsoft would get huge potential benefit from delaying the information disclosure as long as possible.

Strangely, I believe that most Microsoft employees are sincerely motivated, but that the company too often fails to execute on their intentions. I've talked with Jason Matusow, and like many other individual Microsoft employees, he believes his efforts benefit customers. Of course, customers do receive benefits--it's just often difficult to really see where because of all the PR noise.

Like people, companies have a character. Part of Microsoft's problem is its corporate cultural value that seeks to return first benefits back to the company. What's that fairy tale about the scorpion and the frog? The scorpion asks for a lift across the river and later stings the frog, drowning them both. As they sink in the water, the frog asks why the scorpion stung him. "I could not help myself. It's in my nature."