interoperability

Yahoo throws weight behind OpenID standard

In one of the most significant moves yet in the growing push toward service interoperability on the Web, tech giant Yahoo announced Thursday that it is supporting the OpenID 2.0 standard for a universal Internet log-in.

No matter what your views of Yahoo's current stability may be, this is undoubtedly a big victory for OpenID. Not so long ago, the protocol was considered a dot-com/futurist pipe dream. OpenID was created by Web 2.0 guru Brad Fitzpatrick, who founded LiveJournal and was brought on board at Google last year as one of the most prominent players in … Read more

DataPortability has big names on board, but a long road ahead

There's been plenty of talk about data portability over the past few weeks, what with Facebook taking issue with a Plaxo script that imported user data from one social network to the other. But the news has mostly dealt with tiffing and squabbling--until now.

A group called the DataPortability Workgroup announced Tuesday that representatives from Facebook, Google, and Plaxo have signed on as members. The group, spearheaded by Chris Saad of start-up Faraday Media, is a sort of alliance of Web thinkers devoted to "(putting) all existing technologies and initiatives in context to create a reference design for … Read more

Open source's non-problem with interoperability

It's really funny, though a bit pathetic, to see the media pick up a theme and run with it. In this case, it's the idea that open source has problems with interoperability, and that it's somehow crimping open-source adoption. This is ironic because proprietary enterprise software has had this problem for decades...and still does. In fact, it is the fault of proprietary software that we have an interoperability problem at all.

Open source, thriving on open standards, is a huge step in the right direction.

It's also ironic because if you talk with MySQL, Alfresco, SugarCRM, Loopfuse, MuleSource, etc. you'll find that not a single one of us is seeing this interoperability problem crimping adoption. Want to integrate Alfresco with Sharepoint or SAP? Done. Much more easily than between proprietary systems. Ditto for other solutions.

And yet this myth persists with those who should know better. Perhaps because the media asks vendors who depend on enterprise fears over interoperability, rather than asking customers themselves. eWeek's sources for the articles above are the very organizations set up to solve a nonexistent problem.… Read more

Gasp! Open-source interoperability group finds that interop is customers' #1 concern

Interoperability is surely a big deal. How it ended up being the top concern of an open-source interoperability group's (the Open Solutions Alliance) survey doesn't require much imagination. But the ironic thing in the survey's findings is that the OSA (voiced here by Dominic Sartorio) has come to the wrong conclusion from it:

Most commercial open-source companies are finding a good amount of success. But how many opportunities are they leaving on the table because they're not interoperable?

Please allow me to answer: "Zero." At least, zero to few opportunities are lost from not … Read more

Is it Microsoft + Novell or Microsoft vs. Novell?

Mary Jo Foley notes some of the highlights of Microsoft's patent/interoperability deal with Novell, following Microsoft's own press release celebrating the deal. She says something, however, that I'm not sure I agree with:

Not surprisingly, Microsoft isn?t saying much about the part of its collaboration with Novell which has generated the most publicly outcry: The patent-protection component. The press release simply states that the 30 new customers are "join(ing) the ranks of all other Microsoft and Novell customers currently benefiting from the companies? collaboration to enable interoperability and IP peace of mind in mixed environments."

Actually, this is very surprising. I've started to notice a trend in all the announcements the two companies have made over the past year: Novell stresses interoperability while Microsoft beats its drum on patent protection.

Are the two companies talking about the same deal?… Read more

Microsoft getting snotty with Apple's Safari

Apple is trying to make its Safari browser relevant to the Windows platform. According to early reports, however, Microsoft disagrees, leaving Hotmail users (who still uses Hotmail????) stranded:

Recent changes to Microsoft's Hotmail service appears to have left Safari-using Mac users out of luck. Currently, logging into Hotmail with a Safari browser causes an infinite redirect loop (or stops when Safari has said "enough redirects!").

Microsoft is big on interoperability, Apple. Try entering into a(nother) patent agreement with the company. That seems to do the trick.

For Microsoft-Novell lab, eight is enough

Microsoft and Novell plan to announce Wednesday the opening of a joint lab in Cambridge, Mass., where a team of programmers will work to make the two companies' products work better together.

The 2,500-square-foot lab "will be home to a combined team of the best and brightest Microsoft and Novell engineers focused on making Windows Server and Suse Linux Enterprise from Novell," the companies said in a statement. "This kind of technical interoperability work requires disciplined effort and dedicated resources, and that's what this lab is built around," said Suzanne Forsberg, Novell's Interoperability … Read more

The other 20% on Novell or, When interop isn't

I'm all for interoperability. But I have to wonder at Novell's and Microsoft's apparent definition of the term. Miguel de Icaza rightly took me to task for blanketing Novell with criticism yet, as was pointed out today, there is good reason for criticism of Moonlight/Silverlight:

To the extent that it requires Microsoft patent approval to be effective (and it does, by Miguel's own admission), it is shackled in its potential. Interoperability is to Microsoft what prostitution is to a pimp: a great source of control and income.

Jason Matusow (a great friend and Microsoft employee) crows about what a great example Moonlight is of Microsoft's interop work. But Jason, you have actually only succeeded in proving the point of Microsoft's critics: Microsoft can't seem to engage in interop except on its own, very closed terms. This isn't interoperability.

In other contexts, this is called extortion.… Read more

IBM grants broad patent rights; maybe Microsoft should follow suit?

IBM continues to make waves, this time announcing:

IBM is granting universal and perpetual access to intellectual property that might be necessary to implement standards designed to make software interoperable. IBM will not assert any patent rights to its technologies featured in these standards. The company believes its move in this space is the largest of its kind....

Among the technologies included on IBM's list, accessible here, are various standards pertaining to SOAP, SAML, XML Schema and Service Component Architecture. WS-* specifications are featured as well.

Bob Sutor writes on his blog:… Read more