Microsoft has formed a group of customers to help it
identify where it can improve the interoperability of its products
with those of other suppliers.
The company has been accused in the past of not doing enough to
maximise interoperability, and is currently involved in a
long-running anti-trust spat with the European Commission over the
interoperability of its workgroup server protocols.
Microsoft’s Interoperability Customer Executive Council is
expected to meet twice a year at the company’s US headquarters in
Redmond.
Bob Muglia, Microsoft senior vice-president of the server and
tools business, is to host the meetings, which will focus on issues
such as connectivity, application integration and data
exchange.
The council's founding members include both government
organisations and companies. These include Societe Generale,
LexisNexis, Kohl's Department Stores, Denmark's Ministry of Finance
and Spain's Generalitat de Catalunya and Centro Nacional de
Inteligencia (CNI), along with the states of Wisconsin and
Delaware.
