MS trusty Allaire scores DNA integration deal

Is Microsoft looking after those who have supported it in its defence against the US government well? Well, possibly. During the contempt case brought by the Department of Justice against Microsoft, the company felt it needed some external support. Microsoft's legal department is hardly any better run than its Windows development, so when in November 1997, during the so-called contempt case, it was decided that some declarations from some independent vendors might be useful, Microsoft came up with a few. The model for these solicited declarations, from the likes of Allaire, Compaq, Rational and Spyglass, was so rigid that the texts of several paragraphs (as to why the developer wanted to use IE rather than any other product) are word-for-word identical -- a remarkable coincidence the Court of Appeals seemed not to notice. Entirely coincidentally again, yesterday Allaire Corporation did well out of a Microsoft deal. Spyglass has already been funded to do an embedded browser, and Compaq will have continued with its advantageous terms for Microsoft software. In an announcement yesterday, Allaire said it had reached agreement with Microsoft to "enhance the integration between Windows DNA and Allaire's Cold Fusion Web application server". This is to be the first of several formal relationships between Microsoft and Allaire, the announcement added. ®