This is not how things were supposed to work out. Several years ago, I theorized that once Microsoft, Apple and others got their acts together, the spaces inhabited by Dropbox, Box and the other cloud storage companies would get pretty lonely.

When I wrote that, Steve Ballmer was still in command and my prediction was based on Microsoft’s long history of not playing well with others. I’d guessed it would take Microsoft about as long as it has to make cloud storage sort of a big deal. I’d even imagined they might make it very attractive — like essentially free — to use.

Where I guessed wrong was that Microsoft would ever connect its applications to infidel cloud storage. It is a wise thing to do, but historically and quintessentially, not Microsoft.

The change is good for customers, though Microsoft still makes its too hard for, say, Dropbox to be your default storage location for Office documents. OneDrive’s Metro look-and-feel renders it all but useless to me, though I keep adding items to the “free” terabyte that comes with my Office 365 subscription. Sadly, OneDrive doesn’t work very well with Word, either.

This week, Microsoft announced that its Office apps for iPhones and iPads now work with storage from Apple and Box. There is also a new Cloud Storage Partner Program that promises to open things up even more.

Last November,  Microsoft announced that Office would read/save files on Dropbox. Now, Citrix, Box and Salesforce are working on similar capabilities. At the same time, the cost of user cloud storage has become almost free.

From creating new apps for rival platforms to giving away storage to being less of a playground bully, Microsoft has changed. This is welcome, but is it wise? Would Microsoft be better off being the SOB we all remember and sometimes despised? Something I want to think about.

Something I want to think about.

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