These components package two communication protocols (fancy SOAP and simple XML-RPC) for access by desktop apps.

It is nice they're open source because Microsoft needs these capabilities.

Microsoft Office and Internet Explorer will become the smarter clients for all those three-letter business apps (ERP, MSO, HCM, CRM, SCA, et al).

SOAP is the glue.

Why should Microsoft care?

Improved lock in.

And smooth integration with Microsoft's mid-market business apps. 

Between QuickBooks and SAP is a huge, underserved market opportunity. Web services are the key to bringing these mid-sized organizations into the Microsoft fold.

Storytelling is a big deal in km, Scott.

Take a storytelling workshop from a pro some weekend or go to a storytelling competition; aside from the fun, you'll learn the heuristics employed to draw someone in, keep them intrigued, surprised, moved. Can you imagine someone being attentive and engaged about the best way to fudge the fijimingle option in the whatchamacallit on Tuesdays? How you craft the story, how you tell it is just as important as the payload.

Take a look at Brenda Laurel's "Computers as Theater, isbn 0201550601. Her chapters on narrative theory opened up Shakespeare, Baywatch, and user interface design to me.

Also "The Social Life of Information", isbn 1578517087 paper, 0875847625 hb. Vivid chapter on copier repair folk sitting around swapping tales of life in the field, sharing knowledge along the way. Also socializing newbies.

Stories are rarely all inclusive. You aren't clued in to the whole Star Trek universe by watching one episode. When you hear a story and you don't get the whole context, you start to model the missing areas. You actively look to fill in the gaps. This cues you to what you don't know and how much and sometimes how important some of those areas are to your goals.

That's why voice in klogging is so important. It adds back a layer of context stripped from formal business and technical writing.