09.17.08
Microsoft Fails Open Source Outreach
Microsoft may be messing about with the press (as it did before [1, 2]) in order to get portrayed as open source ‘darling’. It’s the usual promises and spin that reporters swallow without a grain of salt.
The headline game is being played by IDG where it states: “Microsoft hails open source outreach”
Well, maybe Paul Krill wants to become another Galli, i.e. please Microsoft in the press to eventually get a job at Microsoft. There’s some history there [1, 2]. This is not the first time that he does this and here is his latest:
Microsoft continued to make its case on Tuesday that it is a friend to open source, listing a number of efforts it has undertaken in spaces ranging from Linux to virtualization and rich Internet application technology.
“Virtualization”? Like that Novell collusion? And “rich Internet application technology”? Like Silverlight, which locks out GNU/Linux users [1, 2, 3] and acts as patent bait inside distributions? What happened to critical reporting?
Had Microsoft been serious about Free/open source software, it would not try so hard to tie it down to a proprietary stack [1, 2, 3]. Ozzie has already acknowledges recently that open source is a greater threat to Microsoft than Google. They now hope to abduct open source and make it something else — part of the Microsoft ecosystem [1, 2].
What type of operating system is Microsoft trying to drag developers’ feet to anyway? According to this latest report from Mar Jo Foley, Windows 7 is likely to be just another Vista, i.e. a downgrade from Windows XP.
From what admittedly little I had a chance to see, Windows 7 does not look or feel like a major departure from Windows Vista.
Issues and false promises around this release were also mentioned in:
- Windows 7: R.I.P.
- Microsoft Is Giving Up on Windows
- Microsoft to kill Windows with ‘web-centric’ Midori?
- CIOs Uncensored: For The Sake Of IT, Leave XP Alone
- What we do know about Windows 7
Developers have been stubbornly avoiding Vista, according to fairly recent surveys. GNU/Linux is targeted by more developers than Vista. Microsoft tries to change this and Novell continues to serve as Microsoft’s bridge. █
“In the face of strong competition, Evangelism’s focus may shift immediately to the next version of the same technology, however. Indeed, Phase 1 (Evangelism Starts) for version x+1 may start as soon as this Final Release of version X.”
–Microsoft, internal document [PDF]
