At a closed-door meeting of its Interoperability Customer Executive Council (ICEC), held in May, Microsoft was surrounded by the critics suggesting that it is not sincere in handling customer feedback. However two executives of the company continued to mention that these feedback helped Microsoft form a more pragmatic approach to interoperability and in understanding what their customers and programmers of computer software development really need.

Craig Shank, general manager of the interoperability group at Microsoft, mention that the discussions at the ICEC event were “robust” and after the meeting the company has started various work streams, including meetings between its product architects and those customers. He specified that there are four main areas to Microsoft’s structured approach to interoperability:

• products and standards implementations,
• collaboration,
• developer resources, and
• participation in formal standards bodies

Shank added that the company has taken steps towards rewriting Office Binary Protocol file documentation, and that there is a “high degree” of support activity through MSDN. Microsoft is also identifying how it implemented standards, and it is collaborating with the industry to do testing work for its standards implementations. Microsoft has focused on specific testing, including Plugfest testing between SAMBA and Windows Server for file and print interoperability.

- By Software Development Team, SynapseIndia [Software Development India]