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MAY 21, 2004
Another New Friend for Microsoft In an extension of its abrupt corporate personality shift, it has agreed to cooperate technically with long-time nemesis Oracle Maybe it's something in the spring air. But Microsoft's (MSFT ) fiercest foes are all of sudden lining up to make peace with the software giant. In April, Sun Microsystems (SUNW ) settled a lawsuit in which it alleged that Microsoft improperly altered its Java programming language. Microsoft handed over nearly $2 billion as part of that deal and agreed to share proprietary technical information that will help Sun's servers work more smoothly with Windows software (see BW, 5/31/04, "Teaching Microsoft To Make Nice?"). It was a surreal about-face for one of techdom's most acidic relationships, and seemingly left sour relations with only one other long-time Microsoft basher -- Oracle (ORCL ). No more. On May 20, the two adversaries found a path to partnership. Oracle and Microsoft signed their first-ever development agreement that will enable software engineers to use Microsoft developer tools to create programs for Oracle's database products. By the end of the year, Oracle expects to make components available to programmers to customize applications using Microsoft's popular developer tools, called Visual Studio. That should help make Oracle's database work better with servers that run on Windows. "COMING TO TERMS." The deal, however, has more to do with pragmatism that peace. Corporate customers have grown increasingly frustrated with the constant sniping between Microsoft and its foes. Such fighting has often led to technologies that don't work well together, forcing customers to spend precious time jury-rigging fixes that should have been baked into the products before they were ever shipped. "There's a lot of coming to terms with reality," says Marie Huwe, general manager for developer tools and platform marketing at Microsoft. "This isn't something that we can put on the back burner." Indeed, customer pressure was the key reason Microsoft and Sun cited for their decision to resolve differences. But the peace also represents a thaw in the long-frosty relations Microsoft has had with much of the tech industry. During the four-year federal antitrust trial, the Colossus of Redmond was surprised by how little support it received from the rest of the industry. "WE CAN COOPERATE." Since then, CEO Steven A. Ballmer has made it a mission to build bridges with other tech companies that have long viewed his company with suspicion and fear. Shortly after taking the top job in 2000, Ballmer traveled to Silicon Valley to meet with Oracle boss Lawrence J. Ellison, a first step at smoothing relations that helped lead to the new deal. "We are finding ways where we can cooperate where we don't compete," says Andrew J. Mendelsohn, senior vice-president of Oracle's database server technology. "We have an increasingly better relationship with Microsoft." Despite their new chumminess, the two companies will continue to compete. Microsoft's SQL Server database software battles head-on with Oracle's database products. And both outfits are expanding their business-applications software product lines. But the deal will make it easier for corporate customers to run Oracle's products on Windows servers. And the two rivals will even begin to market their products together. All of a sudden, Microsoft's list of enemies has shrunk yet again.  By Jay Greene in Seattle
BW MALL
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