At Lotusphere this year, the contrast between IBM and Microsoft could not be more distinct.
IBM is making it clear it is banking on a strategy that embraces a loosely coupled framework - a foundation based upon principles that are often discussed in the context of the open Web. For instance, as we mentioned yesterday, xPages, HTML5 and RESTful Web services will all be tools that push forward efforts such as Project Vulcan, the next generation of Lotus Notes unveiled here at Lotusphere this week.
Sharepoint, in contrast, is an enterprise collaboration service that has leveraged its proprietary framework into a $1 billion business. Tightly integrated with Microsoft Office, Sharepoint is not an open technology but does integrate with third-party applications.