Microsoft

I'm sure I'm not the first to reflect on the evil genius of .docx document format but I feel the need to vent a little spleen. Only the Evil Empire of MickeySoft could be this twisted.

The ITSM community should ponder this for two reasons: (1) just how much do we trust Microsoft's 'free' MOF 4.0? (2) ITIL's inability to play nicely with COBIT or other de-facto standards might result in eventual convergence or it might not - watch the scrap between OOXML and ODF for clues.

Windows Vista makes the claim of "faster boot times". Faster than what? tectonics?

Just what sort of pacts has OGC signed with the money engines at TSO and APMG, or is HM still her own master? When will ITIL be set free?

The real significance remains to be seen, but Microsoft's announcement that MOF 4.0 (Microsoft Operating Framework, a MS variant of ITIL) is now available under a Creative Commons licence to not only Share but also Remix(!) puts additional pressure on Castle ITIL's proprietary grip on the ITIL content. The explicit mention of ITIL in the announcement suggests to me this pressure is not accidental. MOF was already freely available for download, as also are COBIT and FITS, but this takes open content ITSM another step.

Microsoft has made a practice of attempting to patent the obvious, not least of which is CMDB, but a recent court ruling gives hope that those they do obtain can be invalidated.

What is it about these big software companies and their inability to come up with decent branding of their products (and companies)?

A recent comment (reposted for your convenience) in response to my item about Microsoft trying to patent CMDB, said

Microsoft is worse than ITIL?
The Vendor and British ITIL cabal are busy redefining their closed, theoretical "framework" to include everything under the sun. And, they seem to be doing it for the express purpose of advancing the vendors sales performance.

The IT Skeptic recently reported on Microsoft's attempts to patent CMDB and other obvious concepts. Now ZDNet reports they are trying to patent RSS too. This smacks of the lunacy that only lawyers can generate, but what if they actually got away with it? I can believe that as an organisation they are megalomaniac enough to think they can.

A recent patent application appears to indicate that Microsoft is applying to patent CMDB. This issue is not attracting the outrage that it ought to. Next time you see your Microsoft rep, ask him/her WTF they are up to. And if you get anything like a rational answer, post it here so we can all understand.