451 CAOS Theory 
A blog for the enterprise open source community
Microsoft IS targeting open source users
Jay Lyman, June 17, 2008 @ 2:43 pm ETMuch of the reaction from FOSS folks to news that Microsoft is joining the Open Source Census centers on concern that Microsoft is out to find open source users and what open source software they’re using. I think that may be exactly right.
However, I don’t think Microsoft has embarked on a SCO-style hunt for open source users it can cajole, threaten or sue for unnamed patent infringements. No, I think Microsoft has genuine interest in finding out how many open source software users are candidates for open source on Windows. I believe the company, which has changed, is aware of the scrutiny on it and its strategy with open source. Does Microsoft want to know exactly which open source software packages are most popular in datacenters? Wouldn’t you if you were provider of the most popular server/desktop OS in the world? Certainly Microsoft would rather see growth of its own products rather than growth of open source, but I believe it has accepted that it also has opportunity in open source that will be taken by others if it does not step up.
Microsoft is indeed targeting open source software users. However, being in the cross hairs means being a customer and I highly doubt any of those customers will ever find themselves defendants against Microsoft. Will Microsoft use Open Source Census data to sharpen its focus on its own products that compete with open source? Sure, but whether Redmond is aware or not, the bigger opportunity lies in Microsoft’s own support of open source. Should Microsoft be precluded from obtaining information about how much and which open source is being used? That doesn’t sound like open source to me. Once again, we see that open source is increasingly being viewed not as a hobbyist fad, cheap alternative, or enterprise-limited. No, instead open source is being viewed and handled by Microsoft and most other vendors as a source of real rivalry and real opportunity.
Comments (7) Categories: Software
[...] Lyman remains unsuspecting when it comes to the worst-case scenario, but he hits the nail right on the head with that latter [...]
I’d be more impressed if they got involved in some of those FOSS projects themselves and provided some hands-on help in getting the FOSS to run on MS Windows. I’d be even more impressed if they decided that the hobbyist market – which they have decided is worthy of their time and money in the form of Visual [Programming Language] Express – was also worthy of becoming first-rank developers on that self-same project, and released its source tree under either their own reciprocal license, or the GPL. I’d be ecstatic if they released the source trees of their MS Win9x and MS WinNT 3.x under the GPL and said, “Go play with it to your heart’s content!”
I can dream, can’t I?
The problem with FOSS on Windows is that the OS is by far the most important piece of software running on a system. Of all components, no component is more important to the end user to have be free software. Nothing that runs on a closed OS is free when all the system and important library calls are opaque.
Impressive will be when they GPL the entirety of whatever system they want us to support. And “to GPL” means to allow for the complete, correct, and transparent building of the OS.
It’s untrustworthy computing otherwise. I don’t support untrustworthy computing. Do you consider your customers friends or what?
http://www.linuxtoday.com/it_management/2008061901626NWRHEV There is a big difference when you go with Linux.
Again, I don’t support untrustworthy computing.
Humm i would never Trust Microsoft because for one they would be try to find out what software packages Open Source uses and then make there own then attack Open Source once more i have seen this play book all to often and Open Source has to tread very litghtly when working with Microsoft or should i SAY JUDAS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think it is totally foolish to trust Microsoft. They just want to get close so they can sabotage projects and stab people in the back. Look what they did to the OLPC. Look how they’re corrupting the EeePC and the HP2133. I think it is best to just completely ignore them and all their projects, buy nothing they are selling and watch them linger and die. This may seem severe but how else do you deal with something so evil?
Naive. Actually, after taking a look at your about page and seeing your site is for promoting “analysts” and your products and services (which no doubt are sold to Microsoft customers and possibly Microsoft themselves from time to time), you have the same bias as Booby Winderle.
Thanks to the Halloween documents, numerous other court exhibits of internal Microsoft emails, MS being exposed with their tactics with DrDos, the AlmostPerfect story on what Microsoft did to Wordperfect’s company, more recent predatory actions like buying up virus scanning companies that run on Linux servers for scanning viruses for Windows clients, etc., thanks to their shaking the trees by mentioning “problems” with patents and Linux…by the leaked stories about Microsoft shaking down other large tech companies for money for patents plus forcing a cross-license agreement on the other companies’ patent portfolio (stories on a couple of oem companies based in Asia, can’t recall the names, LG may be one, or companies selling products similar to LG’s products), thanks to their statements in the last few years where Linux is the number one competitor to Microsoft, Linux is a virus, their statements that to beat “free” they’re going to take on Linux at every point possible…
What will Microsoft do with this survey and the countless other surveys they no doubt have privately commissioned… they will, without a doubt, hand the results to every one of their sales reps and marketing department to target every single corporation listed in the survey as having a less than desirable ratio of Microsoft applications compared to FOSS…they will, without a doubt, spin the data on their “get the facts” portion of their site… they will, without a doubt spin the data during their sales calls… they will, without a doubt, use the data to target corporations for their whisper campaign mentioning patents and possible “problems”, after which the contacts at the corporations will consult with their superiors, then consult with the compliance and legal departments, then, like they buy Red Hat instead of going with CentOS because of the reassurance of thousands of certifications for individual apps that work with Red Had but which CentOS lacks and Novell even lacks anywhere near the same number, then they will enter into an agreement and cough up licensing fees for Microsoft patents “in linux”.
To summarize, Microsoft will use the survey to its every advantage. Including their whisper campaign to extract money and in some cases use of the other companies’ patent portfolio. To do any less would be a violation of its fiduciary duty to its shareholders.
Most of the GNU/Linux community understands your reluctance to bite the hand(s) that feed you. But it’s better to just stay away from the topic altogether rather than attract attention from the community over ridiculous statements on Microsoft’s altruism. To do otherwise just reinforces your image as a laughingstock because of your bias which you will, without a doubt, deny.
Thanks for the comment, Enaid,
I’m not telling anyone to go ahead and trust Microsoft or any altruism from the company. My bias is toward the business perspective on open source and in Microsoft’s case, I think Redmond is looking to open source users as business opportunities, not legal targets. Besides, there are plenty of people who think a visit from a MS salesperson is as bad as a letter from its legal department.
JL