A new article on /. about how MS seems to be working against itself by 
using patents to close the office formats that it has submitted as open 
standards reminded me of an important point that Lawrence Lessing made 
awhile ago. Organizations like MS simply aren't monolithic. They are 
made up of individuals with very different values and world views and 
these diverse individuals speak for the organizations at different 
times and places and in different contexts. In particular, these 
organizations are often present themselves simultaneously through their 
engineering and legal organizations.
Engineers tend to value collegiality and sharing or information while 
lawyers are instinctively paranoid and secretive. Paranoia and 
secretiveness are qualities that you want in a lawyer.

So we shouldn't be surprised if MS is seeming to work against itself 
although in this case they might merely be trying to navigate around 
European laws that mandate open standards in programs purchased by 
governments. Even if that's what they are trying to, their actions are 
liable to piss off the customer and loose the sale.

Microsoft is unified and disciplined compared to companies like Apple 
and HP who contribute code, money and hardware to open source efforts 
with one hand while simultaneously threatening other open source 
efforts with lawsuits.

Of course the most extreme example is Sony, which is actually suing 
itself over a DRM issue.