(March 26, 2003) - Microsoft's participation in a W3C Web Services Choreography Working Group held earlier this month baffled the W3C twice: once when Microsoft representatives (Alan Brown and Greg Merredith) attended the group, despite prior signals that MS would not attend, and then again when a few days later, Microsoft notified the committee's co-chairman that the company would not continue to participate. According to MS's director of Web services marketing Steven VanRoekel, the scope of the group didn't align well with the two researchers' work. But future participation is not ruled out.

Microsoft's official statement on this committee reads: "Microsoft is an active participant in multiple standards body organizations and committees. We are interested in following the work of the various working groups and, when appropriate, participating in them directly.  As such, two researchers attended part of a meeting last week in order to better understand its scope.  While Microsoft has decided not to formally participate in the choreography group at this time, it is not the only vehicle in which to impact and evaluate a set of technologies, and we will continue to stay actively involved on several different fronts, with varying degrees of participation and input relative to the standardization process."

The W3C working group is focused on establishing rules for how businesses will exchange data using XML-based Web services. Microsoft, BEA, and IBM are working on their own specification for a Web Services orchestration, but their work hasn't yet been submitted to a standards group. Would rival standards submissions slow the progress of software interoperability? Some critics believe that Microsoft and IBM, by not participating in the W3C's group, are fragmenting the process. Sun highlighted this view, saying in a statement, "IBM and (Microsoft) have now moved away from a leadership position in Web services standards and become a disruptive force in the industry."