[StJacques]

". . . Fine, but don't claim they support interoperability when they restrict access to their data formats. That's exactly the opposite. . . ."

Cross-platform interoperability and cross-application interoperability are not one and the same thing. Providing the data across platforms establishes cross-platform interoperability. Providing the ability to manipulate the data in the same manner between applications establishes cross-application interoperability.

I stand by my claim that Microsoft leads the field in cross-platform interoperability.

[antiRepublicrat]

I stand by my claim that Microsoft leads the field in cross-platform interoperability.

Again, how old is CORBA? And guess what, it's not proprietary.

Now Microsoft isn't all evil in everything. I love being able to write an XML filter so I can just push XML back and forth between SQL Server and other data sources. But Microsoft's commitment to open data and application interchange is only partial. Their greed always takes precedence.