MS-open source hostilities

AS the global media report the constant bickering between rival
software organizations, Microsoft Inc. for its part, has kept its firm
stance that it does not consider the open source community —
particularly advocates of Linux — as competitors.

This same slant is affirmed by the META Group, which has done surveys
regarding software rivalry. META Group said the rivalry is not against
Microsoft and the open source community but rather between commercial
software business and the open source industry.

Lauro Vives, vice-president for Asia Pacific and Philippine country
manager of META Group, said that hostilities between the software
giant and its critics are all muddled and that the dynamics between
commercial software business, as represented by Microsoft, and the
open source software community, mostly advocates of Linux, are
different and each have some form of pluses and minuses.