With recent news about Internet Explorer 8's imminent beta, Microsoft's long and checkered history with web standards compliance has been hurled back into the harsh, unflattering spotlight. Even though IE8 will have a new "standards compliant" mode, it won't be perfect, stirring up a new wave of grumbling about Microsoft's attitude and position in the browser market.

Why did Microsoft decide to sue TomTom at this time? Is it the old arrogance asserting itself again as it has many times in the past? Is it a sense that suing at this time gives it more leeway than at others?

The world’s most popular operating system is Windows, which is made by the Microsoft Corporation. Linux has no links with Windows at all. Microsoft doesn’t contribute anything to Linux and, in fact, is rather hostile toward it, because it threatens Microsoft’s market dominance. This means that installing Linux can give you an entirely Microsoft-free PC. How enticing does that sound?

"we could never have done this by ourselves. By pushing so hard to get OOXML endorsed, even to the point of loading the standards boards in Sweden, Denmark, Switzerland, Portugal, Italy, and beyond, Microsoft showed to the world how poor their format is. Good standards just don't need that kind of pressure.

Regardless of what you think Microsoft is doing wrong, no one seems to think that Microsoft is doing a great job. They may still have the top position (by a lot) in desktop market share, but they are losing it fast. The point is, Microsoft seems to be shooting themselves in the foot.

In the past, Microsoft used to be untouchable. Today, things seem to be shifting drastically. Microsoft still has a monopoly on the desktop computer market but it is being threatened from numerous sides.

"Two Slashdot posts and a long meeting with Microsoft really got me to thinking about whether Microsoft really likes, or doesn’t like, the new GPL version and how its strategy, with regard to open source in general, has been changing over the past few years."

It was a long time in coming. But Microsoft has finally acknowledged that its anti-Linux site had gone past the point of usefulness.

Only time will tell whether Microsoft's move turns out to be a genuine effort to open up; in the meantime, discussion abounds. "You can't just overlook decades of market abuse just because Microsoft promises a few things," wrote pak9rabid on Slashdot. "Only an idiot would take their word on issues like this w/out a huge grain of salt given their past documented history."