content/editorial/JT-2002-03-15.html - openoffice-org - Git at Google

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 <h2>Community Articles: Opinions, Interviews, Analyses</h2>
 <p>-James Treleaven, Guest</p>
 <p><a href="../lspintro.html" target="_blank">Louis Su&aacute;rez-Potts, Editor</a></p>
 <p>2002 March 15</p>
 <p>&nbsp;</p>
 <p>I am surprised that I have not seen any discussion of the CNET article: &quot;<a href="http://news.com.com/2009-1017-857509.html">New
   Windows could solve age-old format puzzle--at a price</a>&quot;, which is posted
   on the CNET News.com site.</p>
 <p>
 It talks about replacing Microsoft's &quot;antiquated file system with modern
 database technology&quot; which will &quot;mean easier, faster and more reliable
 searches for information&quot;.<p>
 The sidebar to the article says: &quot;Microsoft is replacing the plumbing of
 its Windows operating system with technology borrowed from its SQL Server database
 software. Currently, documents, Web pages, e-mail files, spreadsheets and other
 information are stored in separate, mostly incompatible software. The new technology
 will unify storage in a single database built into Windows that's more easily
 searchable, more reliable, and accessible across corporate networks and the Internet.&quot;<p>
 So - Microsoft wants to get rid of application files and store everything in a
 database. How convenient.<p>
 It is a brilliant strategic move. After all, Microsoft users are not 'chained
 down' by their loyalty to Windows - they are chained down by their loyalty to
 their most heavily used Office applications - principally Word and Excel.<p>
 Openoffice.org hopes to win these users over, but to do so we rely on the critical
 interoperability provided by our import/export filters. I personally have been
 writing letters to antitrust officials begging them to force Microsoft to publish
 the specifications of the file formats for their Office applications. Such publication
 would just about completely level the playing field, and allow users to use whichever
 office productivity applications they like. This in turn would give people much
 more flexibility in choosing operating systems.<p>
 But just think - what if there were no file formats to publish? 'Sorry judge,
 we would like to - but the data is not stored in files. It is stored in a database
 that is an indivisible part of the operating system.'<p>
 The database records will of course be totally inaccessible to any program other
 than the application that stored them - for security reasons. Throw in some encryption,
 and if Microsoft is really smart, a patented API by which applications read/write
 to/from the datastore - and interoperability with other office applications will
 become a priori impossible.<p>
 People will still need to collaborate on documents of course (that is, to exchange
 'files'). But the documents will simply move (via .NET) from the datastore buried
 deep in the guts of a Windows OS running on one computer, to a datastore embedded
 in a MS OS running on another computer. Microsoft will gradually make the whole
 thing more and more opaque ... to the point at which people will not even think
 of files anymore. The concept of 'files' may be something that is taught to our
 great grandchildren in history class.<p>
 While the US Department of Justice is busy conceding the last war - the one in
 which Microsoft 'integrated' Internet Explorer in the operating system - Microsoft
 is moving its battalions ahead to win the coming war.<p>
 The CNET article, to which I referred, says that Microsoft is hard at work on
 this new 'storage technology' - and the breathless tone of the article indicates
 that Microsoft is hard at work selling the concept and all of its 'benefits' to
 the public.<p>
 We shouldn't underestimate the cunning of Microsoft's strategy of integrating
 more and more functionality into the operating system. Combined with an opaque
 OS hosted datastore and .NET - this strategy could allow Microsoft to achieve
 a critical mass of proprietary interconnections which could quickly grow to be
 completely unassailable.
 <p>&nbsp;
 <hr>
 <p><a href="index.html">Previous Community Articles</a></p>
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	<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
	<h2>Community Articles: Opinions, Interviews, Analyses</h2>
	<p>-James Treleaven, Guest</p>
	<p><a href="../lspintro.html" target="_blank">Louis Suárez-Potts, Editor</a></p>
	<p>2002 March 15</p>
	<p> </p>
	<p>I am surprised that I have not seen any discussion of the CNET article: "<a href="http://news.com.com/2009-1017-857509.html">New
	Windows could solve age-old format puzzle--at a price</a>", which is posted
	on the CNET News.com site.</p>
	<p>
	It talks about replacing Microsoft's "antiquated file system with modern
	database technology" which will "mean easier, faster and more reliable
	searches for information".<p>
	The sidebar to the article says: "Microsoft is replacing the plumbing of
	its Windows operating system with technology borrowed from its SQL Server database
	software. Currently, documents, Web pages, e-mail files, spreadsheets and other
	information are stored in separate, mostly incompatible software. The new technology
	will unify storage in a single database built into Windows that's more easily
	searchable, more reliable, and accessible across corporate networks and the Internet."<p>
	So - Microsoft wants to get rid of application files and store everything in a
	database. How convenient.<p>
	It is a brilliant strategic move. After all, Microsoft users are not 'chained
	down' by their loyalty to Windows - they are chained down by their loyalty to
	their most heavily used Office applications - principally Word and Excel.<p>
	Openoffice.org hopes to win these users over, but to do so we rely on the critical
	interoperability provided by our import/export filters. I personally have been
	writing letters to antitrust officials begging them to force Microsoft to publish
	the specifications of the file formats for their Office applications. Such publication
	would just about completely level the playing field, and allow users to use whichever
	office productivity applications they like. This in turn would give people much
	more flexibility in choosing operating systems.<p>
	But just think - what if there were no file formats to publish? 'Sorry judge,
	we would like to - but the data is not stored in files. It is stored in a database
	that is an indivisible part of the operating system.'<p>
	The database records will of course be totally inaccessible to any program other
	than the application that stored them - for security reasons. Throw in some encryption,
	and if Microsoft is really smart, a patented API by which applications read/write
	to/from the datastore - and interoperability with other office applications will
	become a priori impossible.<p>
	People will still need to collaborate on documents of course (that is, to exchange
	'files'). But the documents will simply move (via .NET) from the datastore buried
	deep in the guts of a Windows OS running on one computer, to a datastore embedded
	in a MS OS running on another computer. Microsoft will gradually make the whole
	thing more and more opaque ... to the point at which people will not even think
	of files anymore. The concept of 'files' may be something that is taught to our
	great grandchildren in history class.<p>
	While the US Department of Justice is busy conceding the last war - the one in
	which Microsoft 'integrated' Internet Explorer in the operating system - Microsoft
	is moving its battalions ahead to win the coming war.<p>
	The CNET article, to which I referred, says that Microsoft is hard at work on
	this new 'storage technology' - and the breathless tone of the article indicates
	that Microsoft is hard at work selling the concept and all of its 'benefits' to
	the public.<p>
	We shouldn't underestimate the cunning of Microsoft's strategy of integrating
	more and more functionality into the operating system. Combined with an opaque
	OS hosted datastore and .NET - this strategy could allow Microsoft to achieve
	a critical mass of proprietary interconnections which could quickly grow to be
	completely unassailable.
	<p>
	<hr>
	<p><a href="index.html">Previous Community Articles</a></p>
	</body>
	</html>