The Bloor Perspective: The end of the anti-Microsoft alliance, irrefutable Web transactions, and Uncle Sam versus Gates and Co.

Not long ago, the Sion alliance of Sun-IBM-Oracle-Netscape could be relied on to back any decent idea that could compete with Microsoft's technology. That's now looking like a fading memory. It was never a formal alliance, and market changes have affected all four companies. The latest crack has been caused by the increasingly tough competition between Sun and IBM in the Web server market as these two vie for the dot-com crown. And Oracle hasn't exactly been helping things with its attacks on IBM's new friend Siebel.

Netscape also has taken a back seat following the hammering its browser has taken from Microsoft and the way its corporate profile has been lowered by the AOL takeover. Perhaps, though, the biggest factor in the decline of the Sion alliance has been the lessening of the threat from Microsoft.

When all the companies feared dominance by Microsoft, their policy was that the enemy's enemy must be a friend. Now it's clear Microsoft is unlikely to easily dominate new sectors of the industry, the urgency is taken out of defensive alliances.
Unfortunately the loser in all of this appears to be Java, which used to be a strong focus for the Sion alliance. But, although it remains a key software architecture, Java has become less strategic.

Sun's mishandling of the standards issue has been a problem, while lack of uptake on the client side has lessened Netscape's interest. Neither IBM nor Oracle has signed up to the latest J2EE standards and now everyone seems more interested in the strategic implications of Linux.

* Online well-being: e-safety first? *

While it is true that many of the old mechanisms for ensuring the security of a financial transaction do transfer to the Web, it is equally true that they don't go quite far enough. UK start up e-Safety 1st believes the answer to this shortfall is e-safety.

It has a solution called the Card-Guard suite, which is being introduced to support the four goals of documentary evidence, proof of transaction, order confirmation and third party validation. The consumer version of Card-Guard is a small piece of software that works through a browser to record all the activities of the consumer throughout the cycle of a transaction. If there is any dispute, the file is sent to e-Safety 1st which will unlock the encrypted information and send it to both the consumer and the merchant. With independent evidence made available to both parties, the expectation is that a resolution can be achieved.

The concepts advocated by e-Safety 1st are an interesting route to improved consumer confidence. Take up of the scheme could be hampered by the rapid growth of non-PC Internet terminals such as wireless PDAs. But there is certainly scope for innovation in this area and we will be watching the development of e-Safety carefully.

* Microsoft: barely the company we used to know *

Keeping up with developments in the Microsoft-DoJ legal battle is now almost the default setting for people working in IT. But still, for those who missed it, last week Judge Jackson revealed a 'proposed Final Judgement' which, among other things, advocates the break-up of the company into two businesses.

This is supported by a share ownership restriction meaning Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer can only own shares in one or the other of the two companies. Other provisions include protection for companies that had given evidence against Microsoft in the trial, a levelling of the playing field for PC manufacturers that OEM Microsoft Windows, and restrictions on Microsoft's ability to use Windows to promote its own products over anybody else's.

So what does it add up to? Basically a complete repositioning of the company. Six or seven years ago, Microsoft was the undisputed pretender to the IT throne. IT decision makers across the globe were implementing one-word IT strategies as they truly believed they had found a company offering the silver bullet.

Now though, it is fair to say that, in most parts of the world, Microsoft is no longer seen as the keeper of the silver bullet. We have learned our lessons and it is for this reason that we may rest assured that, whatever Microsoft may have succeeded with in the past, there is no indication of the company's continued success in the future - court case or no court case.