Flipping the encompass bit

Marc Canter's latest response to my invitation to talk about some of the WS protocols ends with this:

I just hope to hell that they (meaning Microsoft… Kim) realize fighting Linux and open source is a losing battle and that their strategy better encompass us – or else.

Paradoxical, and maybe hopeful, because that is what Web Services are supposed to do.

The professed goal is that people running open source software on Linux boxes or IBM software on whatever boxes can collaborate and interact with those running applications that work on Windows clients and servers, and visa versa all around. The emerging platform is cross-platform. Which leads to a new universe of opportunities.

Through Web Services architecture, Microsoft has committed to flipping the encompass bit.

What does it take to lose the war metaphor? Let's aim for innovations that dwarf the current zero-sum squabbling with the software equivalent of a big bang. Let's unlock the door to distributed computing. Factional fighting just slows this down.