There is growing speculation that the Object Management Group is stepping up its courtship of Microsoft Corp, with reports last week that Chris Stone, Object Group president and chief executive, and Paul Maritz, Microsoft senior vice-president, had a private meeting at Comdex to discuss ways for Microsoft to play a more active role in the organisation. Apparently the Object Group is so eager to see Microsoft involved that it has brought forward development of a compound document specification in the hope that Microsoft will submit parts of its Object Linking and Embedding 2.0 technology. Specifications for compound documents were originally slated for development in late 1994. But, sources say, Microsoft is unlikely deal directly with the Object Group. It is more likely to align itself with a third party, the main contenders being DEC via Microsoft’s Alpha-Windows NT relationship or its deal with IBM to convert NT for the PowerPC.
