Microsoft has never been inclined to play by the rules. For the past 32 years, the company has maintained the cocky pose of its legendary founder, Bill Gates, aggressively challenging entrenched technology standards -- even some its own customer base wants to see flourish side by side with Windows. Microsoft's ruthless campaign against open source software and, with somewhat less vengeance, its reluctance to join the Software as a Service (SaaS) movement are the latest examples. Only after years of bloody public jousting did Microsoft finally seek ways to peacefully coexist with the open source world through deals like the one signed with Novell Inc. last November. And it did acknowledge the market presence of SaaS when it introduced the Live versions of Windows and Office, both of which are still incubating.
