Reagan, in 1987, said “Mr Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” About 2 years later, the Berlin Wall came down.

Today, I read that MS wants to be open and work with the open source community, wants to publish a whole lot of interfaces and formats. Quick, pinch me! What, no more embrace, extent, extinguish? Is this the Berlin Wall moment? Where were you when the wall came down (I was in Corvallis, OR). Right now, I am in Singapore as I read that MS page. Fortune says it is a truce. Can I trust MSFT? Again, Reagan has the best response, trust, but verify.

I would really like to see that MS is indeed honest in doing this. That they are willing to break away from the greed mindset they have had. That they are willing to cleanse their DNA. Will MS reform itself the way IBM went from the bad guy in the IT world to the leading light in the IT world?

If the war is really over, we have a bunch of things to work on. I can’t wait to get going. Let’s start by cancelling the ooxml BRM set for next week!