Boy was Open Text getting desperate. In the beginning it was kind of cute. Press release after press release about how they were working with Microsoft SharePoint yet not one included an endorsement from Microsoft. But now finally a quote from Microsoft on a press release with Denver based SeeUnity.
For the past year Open Text has issued fire press release on SharePoint:
- Feb 5, 2008 – Open Text Delivers Comprehensive Matter Lifecycle Management Solution for Law Firms on Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
- Feb 11, 2008 – Open Text Launches Case Management Framework for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
- March 25, 2008 – RedDot Launches Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Document Management Integration
- April 23, 2008 – Open Text’s ‘Repository of Record’ For Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 Fills Growing Need
- Oct 4, 2008 – Open Text Furthers Content Services for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server with New Storage Services
Finally an endorsement from Microsoft:
- Oct 22, 2008 – Open Text Expands Content Lifecycle Management Services for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007
So what was it that finally got Microsoft’s attention. It wasn’t a revolutionary statement. This week’s release had nothing special in it. But I’m pretty sure that the April release calling Open Text the “Repository of Record” for SharePoint probably did some damage to the relationship and changed the tone of the later releases. (“Furthers” and “Expands” have a much more neutral tone. Isn’t marketing fun 🙂
No the message wasn’t new but the product was for this Open Text repository. Seems Open Text is delivering another solution that allows access from yet another of their repository to content in SharePoint’s repository and vice-versa. It’s a nice solution that’s been available for other vendors with single repositories. Yet it’s just another Open Text repository joining the party, this time with a partner product something that was being done two years ago.
All in all, it’s nice to see Open Text continue to deliver on a solution that both customer and Microsoft were expecting. Only four more to go before every repository at Open Text is covered.
It still leave the question from the last year. Is Open Text looking for a suitor? Some saw, with all those release, that the preferred suitor was Microsoft. Did this release help? It could have but it probably didn’t. The next sign is really the earnings announcement On Nov 3. But does anyone really want all the headaches of having to deal with six different repositories?
