FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Cybersource to Microsoft: Get Real on Joint Research Efforts
 
Australia -- 26th August, 2005

Microsoft recently approached Open Source Development Labs, the home of
Linux, with an offer of co-operation on research. Unfortunately, the
kind of joint research that Microsoft proposed, namely more paid-for
analyst comparisons, is designed to extend the Linux vs. Windows war-of
-words, not help users of either platform. Cybersource has an alternate
suggestion: it's time for Microsoft to actually do what's best for its
own customers and the industry in general, by working towards making
Linux and Windows work better together.

"Most businesses will end up running a combination of proprietary and
open source software," said Cybersource CEO Con Zymaris. "By joining
with the open source industry and working towards reducing the
interoperability headaches between the two, Microsoft can help its own
customers as well as make it easier for users to select and move to the
platform best suited to them."

To date, most of the effort towards improving interoperability between
Linux & open source and Microsoft platforms, has been shouldered by
the open source community.

"Apache, PHP, MySQL, Perl, Sendmail, BIND, Python, Zope, PostgreSQL,
Firefox, Thunderbird, OpenOffice.org, FirebirdSQL and several thousand
other open source technologies have been ported to run on Windows. In
comparison, Microsoft has not made any effort to bring any of its major
technologies, such as Exchange, Office, Outlook, Internet Explorer, IIS, 
SQL Server, to Linux," continued Zymaris.

"When it comes to sharing data on disk or on a network, Linux's Network
File System (NFS), EXT2 and ReiserFS filesystems are open and documented
for interoperability, as are the Kerberos and OpenLDAP authentication
protocols.  This is in sharp contrast to Microsoft's NTFS, SMB/CIFS and
Active Directory, which are encumbered through lack of technical
interoperation documentation or by legal firewalls."

"Just as importantly, open source developers provide full, unfettered
access to protocols, document standards and XML schemas. In return,
Microsoft keeps the information required to work with Word, Excel,
Access, Outlook and Exchange, secret. Even when Microsoft makes claims
towards interoperability, as with the recent Word XML schemas, they
nobble that effort by releasing information under a licence which
prevents implementation in common open source forms," continued Zymaris.

Cybersource suggests the following as actually useful joint-research 
that Microsoft can co-operate with the open source community on:

1) Publish (in an un-encumbered form) the information necessary for
   third-party software to interoperate fully with Microsoft Office,
   Exchange, Windows Media codecs etc.

2) Stop the 'intellectual property' land-grab on XML schemas, 
   communication protocols and document formats. Interoperability
   information should never be legally encumbered: that defeats the 
   purpose.

"In order for Linux and Windows to properly interoperate, we need to
establish a common 'language', with agreed syntax, forms and rules -
this is what schemas, protocols and document formats do. Microsoft has
thus-far done its best to subvert that common language with either
technical or legal obstructions, causing problems for users. It's time
to change tack and assist both Windows and Linux users by working 
towards interoperability," Zymaris concluded.


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About Cybersource Pty. Ltd.

Cybersource, founded in early 1991, is the second longest running open
source solutions company in the world. We have been demonstrating the better
value, security and robustness of open source technologies to our clients
since then. We also produce products like:

* The Safe Internet Computer: The Safest Way to Use the Internet.

* The Small Business Linux Server: the best value small business server
  on the market and 75% less expensive than the Microsoft alternative. 

* Datasafe: Stores copies of all your documents. Easy and direct access 
  to all past revisions.

* Cybersource TrimClient; All the advantages of a thin-client with none 
  of the disadvantages.

http://www.cybersource.com.au/

Spokesperson/Contact: Con Zymaris
Phone: +61 3 9621 2377
Email: info@cybersource.com.au

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