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Microsoft Sends “Vista 7 PC Ecosystem Team” to Influence Free Software Projects

Window with vapor
"Get ready for Windows 7apourware"



MANY PEOPLE still remember the Blender blunder. Microsoft wants to turn the Free software world into Just Another™ Microsoft/Windows ISV.



Jill Brecheisen from Microsoft is trying to convince (i.e. lobby) Free software projects to prepare themselves for vapourware, such as Vista 7. Here is an E-mail that has just landed in the VLC mailing list:

I am on the Windows 7 PC Ecosystem team and would like to invite your company to participate in Windows 7 Application Readiness & Compatibility Labs. Can you please let me know who the appropriate contact would be to send an invitation to?

Thank you, Jill Brecheisen PC Ecosystem ISV Engagement v-jibrec at microsoft.com


Here's how the thinking goes at Microsoft: Why fight Free software if it cannot be killed? Instead, let's try to make people abandon GNU/Linux. Let's make Free software work better on Windows and have developers overworked because of their Windows ports, which address yet non-existent operating systems.

"The purpose of announcing early like this is to freeze the market at the OEM and ISV level. In this respect it is JUST like the original Windows announcement...

"One might worry that this will help Sun because we will just have vaporware, that people will stop buying 486 machines, that we will have endorsed RISC but not delivered... So, Scott, do you really think you can fight that avalanche?"

--Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft



"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]

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