It would be a strange world indeed if Microsoft executives started saying warm and cozy things about archrival Oracle, so it was no big surprise to see Microsoft Server and Tools president Bob Muglia try to hammer away at Oracle’s strategy at a tech conference last week.But what was surprising was the ham-fisted approach taken by Muglia in his attempt to convince the audience of investors at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference that Oracle’s strategy of offering vertically integrated systems will stunt customer choice while Microsoft itself wants nothing more than unlimited options for customers—that is, as long as all those options are x86. Muglia was asked for his opinion on “this trend we’re seeing in the market to vertically integrate,” and the questioner offered three examples: Cisco and blades, EMC and VMware, and Oracle and Sun. Not surprisingly, Muglia ignored the first two and went right after Oracle:”In terms of your second question with the verticalization of companies like Sun and Oracle, there’s no question that there has been a trend—I sort of look at it, and I admit I shake my head.
It’s the back to the future sort of trend of this highly verticalized company that feels a lot like the mini-computer companies of the 1970s, and sort of the structure that’s expected where everything will be purchased from one vendor,” said Muglia in a transcript of his conversation with Goldman’s Sarah Friar and then audience Q&A.Global CIOs: A Site Just For YouVisit InformationWeek’s Global CIO — our new online community and information resource for CIOs operating in the global economy.