Is Microsoft changing its stripes?

摘要

Now that Microsoft's six-year anti-trust battle is over and the company has hammered out historic partnerships with bitter rivals Sun and Oracle, is the vendor on a path to becoming a kinder, gentler industry titan? "I'm not so sure kinder and gentler is the starting point to describe Microsoft. It's more like being more pragmatic," says Jonathan Eunice, an analyst with Illumi-nata. "Pragmatism means companies like Microsoft, Sun and Oracle can somewhat bury the hatchet and work together, but it's certainly not warm feelings all around. It's an enlightened self-interest." The pragmatism, which has been nurtured in the four years since Steve Ballmer took over as Microsoft's CEO, and the heightened self-interest have been born from changes in the industry and the economy.