Marc Canter makes an observation about how Microsoft will defend against accusations of being closed:

Don is the main guy behind Microsoft’s ‘open’ approach to inter-connecting distributed apps and services in the future. It’s code-named Indigo.  It has security and support for ALL legacy kind of systems baked in, which means (and I’m sure this is not a mistake) support for ALL open standards – as well.

So in the future – if Microsoft is attacked on their ‘closed’ approach to ANYTHING, they’ll be able to point to the MAJOR technology effort and approach and say: “Hey, we’re open – too!”  Now the only question is “will Indigo and Don’s team suceed?’ and make it out there into the real world.

With Indigo being one of the pillars of Longhorn, and the focal point of the company’s multi year bet and major strategy peice around Web Services, I can’t imagine it not making it out there into the real world.