Microsoft digs in deeper

This week's Microsoft/Nortel deal is still reverberating, though I'm a little surprised at how few people have been commenting on it substantively. I took three points away from the announcement teleconference. First, that Microsoft understands that the only bunch of people more conservative and risk-averse than IT managers are telecom managers, and that entrenching itself into the telecom business will set up the company for the next 100 years. Second, that Nortel is abandoning any pretense toward open systems in the enterprise. Third, that IT managers and telecom managers will be engaging in close-quarters knife fights for geek and network supremacy for the next five years or so.

For more information about the Microsoft/Nortel tie-up:
- see this article from The Seattle Times