Microsoft is often criticized, sometimes unfairly, sometimes not, for having software that bucks norms and eschews standards—software that lacks an ability to interoperate with the rest of the world. Sometimes this is because Microsoft decides to go its own way entirely—the first version of MSN, for example, which offered online services but no Internet access. Other times, the company just likes to put its own spin on existing standards—like the various nonstandard extensions made to HTML and CSS during the browser wars.

Lately the company has been doing a lot better. Windows 7 included a whole bunch of video codecs, supporting H.264, AAC, and DivX content out-of-the-box, even though none of these were Microsoft-preferred codecs. The decision to do this was pragmatic and user-focused—real-world content uses these codecs, and interoperability made users’ lives easier, even if it came at the expense of ideological purity. Internet Explorer 9 is another fine example: Redmond has been clear and unambiguous that its ambition is for Web developers to be able to use the same source everywhere, and interoperability—rigid adherence to specifications—is the name of the game.

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Originally posted here:
Did Microsoft just take interoperability too far?