Microsoft forgets to invite Lotus to OLE preview

Date: 1995

Snippet
To: saraw @ microsoft.com (Sara Williams) @ INTERNET cc: ellentu @ microsoft.com @ INTERNET, AJex Morrow(bcc: John Manopoli) From: Noah Mendelsohn Date: 05-26-95 05"28:01 PM

Subject: Re: OLE DB Design Preview, June 7&8, 1995

Thanks for the email followup. No .. I did not receive the fax. Do you know to which fax number you sent it? The updated fax number that I gave you a few weeks ago, 617-693-8676, is correct. I suspect that your distribution lists for design review announcements may have had an old number.

We would like to have Lotus represent ion at the design review, but it will probably not be me this time, as I am off on paternity leave for awhile. If you wouldn’t mind faxing the materials to the number given above, I'll try to circulate them and get a response ASAP. We’ll probably be picking it up Tues. or Wed, so a response by Wed. is a little tight. Would you please hold two slots for us in the meantime, and I'll get back to you as quickly as possible? How tight is space this dine? Am I correct in assuming that this is the followup to the earlier Nile review, and that it’s for a somewhat broader audience? Thanks.

Thanks also for your earlier note. Any news on VB 4.0 beta agreements? We have a similar interest in the VC++ 3.0beta, which we were also not invited to join. That too would be a good reference container, which I suspect that other container venders may be using as a point of comparison for their own work.

As to why more container reference material is needed, I don’t doubt that some simple OCX containers can be built based on the reference materials available, particularly if you have access to VB 4.0 to use for comparison purposes and compatibility testing. On the other hand, there are numerous details that Kraig doesn’t even attempt to cover, for which the spec too is unclear.

I doubt, for example, that the implementors of VB 4.0 or VC++ 3.0 could be implement their container support based only on cpatron and Appendix D or the CDK reference materials. So the issue is not that it’s impossible to write a container of any sort, but that it’s not possible to learn the details required to correctly build sophisticated containers that exploit the full range of features suggested in the OCX spot.

Thanks as always for your help. Sorry I won’t be making it out there on this trip, but I look forward to attending future OLE related design reviews. Are any scheduled for the near future? Thanks.

Noah

To: saraw @ microsoft.com @. INTERNET cc: ellentu @ microsoft.com @ INTERNET (bcc: Noah Mendelsohn) From: saraw @ microsoft.com (Sara Williams) @ INTERNET Date: 05/25/95 02:35.’22. PM Subject: OLE DB Design Preview, June 7&8, 1995

Greetings !

By now, you should have received via fax an invitation to our upcoming OLE DB Design Preview. The Design Preview will be here at Microsoft in Redmond, Washington on June 7&8.

If you have already RSvP’d, that’s great - we’re looking forward to seeing you. If you’ve not RSvP’d, please be sure to do so by May 31st so that we can reserve space for you. Also remember that you must return a signed NDA before attending the design preview

If you did not receive an invitation, please reply (to both me and Ellen Tucker) with your fax number, so that we can fax you an invitation.

Best regards,

Sara Williams Manager, OLE Evangelism Microsoft Developer Relations

To: Noah Mendelsohn.LOTUS @ crd.lotus.com @ INTERNET cc: bradstr@microsoft.com @ INTERNET, dough @ microsoft.com @ INTERNET, saraw@ microsoft.com @ INTERNET (bcc: Noah Mendelsohn) From: saraw @ microsoft.com (Sara Willams) @ INTERNET Date: 05/08/95 08:30:49 PM Subject: controls update

Noah,

I wanted to give you an update on the issues that we discussed during our phone call last week.

As I mentioned on the phone, there are several other ISVs who have very successfully implemented OLE Control Containers, based solely on Kraig Brockschmidt’s sample and accompanying document. In fact, I met another one last week. So, I find it difficult to understand why you feel that you don’t have all the information that you need. A list of issues that you feel are unclear or ambiguous in the specification and Kraig’s document and sample would be very helpful to me.

However, I’m working with our VB group to see if they will consider you as a beta candidate. This would be with a special non-disclosure agreement that listed the specific developers who could use the VB beta, that they would use it solely for the purpose of testing your OLE controls implementations and that those developers would have no contact with the groups at Lotus who are working on potentially competitive technology. Again, I have not heard back from the VB group; I will let you know when I do.

I am still looking into your questions about using the property set code from the CDK, and I’ll let you know as soon as I’ve got an answer for you.

Sara Williams

Full Exhibit
http://boycottnovell.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/px02311.pdf

This exhibit is also covered in: http://boycottnovell.com/2007/07/30/extension-ooxml-ole/