Re: Why Microsoft cozied up to open source at OSCON
Posted by: Anonymous
[ip: 221.128.201.76]
on August 07, 2008 10:00 AM
@ "My connections with people at Microsoft indicate that there's a whole new generation of developers there that were favorably influenced by the open source movement before they got to Microsoft. They have very little connection to Microsoft's cutthroat tactics of the past."
That is insignificant at best. It's very difficult to change organizational mindset. Don't get me wrong, things change, I am not saying they don't, case and point IBM. However to claim that MS has changed or is changing because most of it's developers look at OSS favorably is a folly. OSS is a commitment and that comes from top-down in an organization and it happens when an organization as a whole commits to OSS. Wearing Firefox T-shirts doesn't automatically mean "we support OSS".
MS still views OSS as the No 1 threat to itself and Linux (, the poster boy of OSS) as the single biggest threat it's front line product, the Windows OS. No, MS will never open-source it's front-line products. Don't ever expect MS Office to be open-sourced, that just ain't gonna happen. MS commits billions to RnD and small projects like IronRuby and CodePlex are just token gestures, minuscule, no nanoscule at best. If people are fooled into believing that MS is slowly adopting open-source, then that's what they are.... fools.
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Re: Why Microsoft cozied up to open source at OSCON
Posted by: Anonymous [ip: 221.128.201.76] on August 07, 2008 10:00 AMThat is insignificant at best. It's very difficult to change organizational mindset. Don't get me wrong, things change, I am not saying they don't, case and point IBM. However to claim that MS has changed or is changing because most of it's developers look at OSS favorably is a folly. OSS is a commitment and that comes from top-down in an organization and it happens when an organization as a whole commits to OSS. Wearing Firefox T-shirts doesn't automatically mean "we support OSS".
MS still views OSS as the No 1 threat to itself and Linux (, the poster boy of OSS) as the single biggest threat it's front line product, the Windows OS. No, MS will never open-source it's front-line products. Don't ever expect MS Office to be open-sourced, that just ain't gonna happen. MS commits billions to RnD and small projects like IronRuby and CodePlex are just token gestures, minuscule, no nanoscule at best. If people are fooled into believing that MS is slowly adopting open-source, then that's what they are.... fools.
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