OK, this is my own personal opinion, but I think it is in Microsoft's best interest to have people on standards committees and working groups, like the World Wide Web (W3C).

I imagine that it might be uncomfortable for Microsoft and its managers to have staff that both pursue work on Microsoft projects and also work on standards committes. Not only is there the issue of dividing time with your valuable resources (i.e. your employee), but also there may be times when the standards work against Microsoft.

However, that being said, as a programmer and developer, I am more apt to embrace technologies that work with open standards - not necessarily open source - then those that don't. Politically, it is a good move for Microsoft - I think it helps with acceptance of the product and tools. And, on a personal level, I hold in high esteem those folks that are working hard to come up with the standards so that systems can be built that are flexible, consistent, and can communicate. I imagine that it is not easy to work in such a compromising environment, but i am confident that the results will yield better tools for us developers.

Like it or not, it is the developers, and others down at the code or hardware level, who will always be the evangelists for technologies. I've rarely ever met a manager that was. If Microsoft relies on managers to be its guide, then it will lose its passion and the passion of its developer community, and become just another company. But "playing nice" in a cooperative manner with standards groups is one way to keep that passion alive...and I applaud Microsoft for its involvement and hope they continue to do so.