451 CAOS Theory 
A blog for the enterprise open source community
Microsoft looking for director of open source desktop strategy
Matthew Aslett, February 6, 2009 @ 5:07 am ETWhat a goldmine my inbox was this morning. I also received the news that Microsoft’s Windows Competitive Strategy team is searching, via Linkedin, for “a strong team member to lead Microsoft’s global desktop competitive strategy as it relates to open source competitors.”
“Our team mission is to gather intelligence, create business strategies, and drive action in the marketplace for the Windows Client business. In this job, you will be asked to think strategically, put yourself in the mindset of our competitors, influence multi-million dollar marketing campaigns, and drive high-level executive thinking around business strategy.
As the Director of Open Source Desktop Strategy you will need to drive research and build holistic strategies across dynamic market segments like PCs, NetBooks, and mobile internet devices. You will be responsible for bringing our business strategy to life by discovering and sharing the market insights that set the foundation for our platform value dialogue with customers and the industry.”
The fact that Microsoft is creating a role to respond to open source on the desktop indicates the threat it sees despite ongoing sceptism about the impact of Linux and other open source desktop applications. Open source’s impact on the desktop has been minimal to date but Microsoft clearly sees the writing on the wall.
Sound like the job for you? More details here.
Comments (10) Categories: Software
Who would be willing to take a job that attacks Free software and people’s freedom?
Well, Roy, I can imagine that lots of people would think that was a swell opportunity. Especially if they are unemployed, and there’s plenty of that going around today. Personally, I think it would be a great opportunity to plant a mole in the heart of borg.
I’m not volunteering,though.
B-)3
You gotta love the job title. “Open source desktop strategy” is actually a fight *against* “open source desktop”.
Yeah, it just doesn’t get much more cynical than that.
The job posting is a paradox. They say it is a strategy position but then they declare their strategy right in the description. If they wanted someone to come in and set their strategy, they wouldn’t pre-suppose that the best way forward was Windows clients on everything.
They also wouldn’t say you get to bring “our business strategy to life”, they say you get to develop our strategy and see it through to execution in the market and in Microsoft.
Microsoft’s best option right now? In my opinion, MS Office for Linux. Sure, most people know about OpenOffice.org, and they know it comes with Linux, but I’m thinking of the large corporations doing a Linux switch. Maybe they’d want to keep Microsoft office for the sake of compatibility with other companies (an underinformed stance, but one that exists). Instead of just holding onto Windows 2000 or XP, and their contemporary MS Office, they’d probably go out and buy the new shiny MS Office when they switch their many thousands of computers to Linux. When they lose out on their OS, Microsoft can save face a little with their office suite. Maybe someone needs to remind them that the first version of MS Office was on the Mac before it was on Windows.
Actually, if I may reply to myself (seems to be the only intelligent conversation on the internets these days), MS Office for Linux is an even better idea for Microsoft than I first thought. Invading enemy territory, so to speak, would allow Microsoft to hit Canonical, Redhat, Novell, and other larger distributors with an antitrust suit, claiming that bundling OpenOffice.org with their OS harms competition. Doing that could raise the bar to Linux adoption just a little higher, since we couldn’t say “and it comes with everything you need, right off the install disc” any more.
I agree that Office on Linux would make a lot of sense for the reasons cited in your first comment, but for the antitrust angle to work MS would have to lose a huge amount of market share to Linux, and I can’t see that happening
This would be nice, notwithstanding that you can run MS Office with or without the
help of Microsoft using Wine.
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