and a pioneer of the open-source software movement, has
this axiom to describe the tech industry: “Nobody takes a
new technology seriously until Microsoft does it.”
Perens is not a fan of Microsoft, and he does not offer this
observation as praise. Instead, what Perens means is this:
Nothing can get you contemplating the full and various
horrors that might be enabled by some simple and even
dull-sounding technology — “Web services,” say — quite
like an announcement that Redmond is looking into it. It’s
especially rattling, Perens continues, when Microsoft says
it’s doing something unusually “big” or “ambitious,” and when it frames its plans in terms of security and
privacy.” More at Salon.com.
