"...because, according to Microsoft, any device using SOAP will be able to participate in HailStorm without prejudice -- "no Microsoft runtime or tool" will be required, though the full effect of this client-insensitivity will be determined by how much Microsoft alters Kerberos or SOAP in ways that limit or prevent other companies from writing HailStorm-compliant applications."

This is the crux: whther MS alters Kerberos. If you have read the news lately, Microsoft has done just that. The e-Gov't initiative in Great Britain has shown that Microsoft intends to create closed, gated communities with it's .Net architecture. This is very sad.

Because of this happening, I am sure this is only a foreshadowing of things to come. I don't trust Microsoft. period. There is, indeed, a danger here of Microsoft co-opting the internet with .Net and Hailstorm.

J.M.