Summary: Analysis of Microsoft's latest interactions with the free/open source software community

HOW CAN one tell that a particular team loses? That team envies the opposing team and amid defeat tries to simply become that opposing team. Microsoft's OuterCurve [1, 2, 3] and its Windows vision of "open source" (still PR driven) reminds us that Microsoft can no longer ignore or just laugh at "open source". In order to remain part of the future Microsoft must try to co-opt "open source", but it has not succeeded for years (it tried repeatedly under different names, e.g. "Shared Source" and "CodePlex"). The following new post helps remind us that Microsoft is not a friend of "open source", it's simply trying to exploit and hurt it:

Yesterday, I finished the analysis of a survey I passed for one of my courses. I used tables, pie graphs, bar graphs, and many of those features people love to see when data analysis is presented.

Oh...I also used Open Office to build the whole thing.

That reminded me of the video bashing Open Office that Microsoft launched, I presume, as part of their "We LOVE Open Source" campaign.

The video, which some view as a desperate rant by the Redmond giant while others see it as an implicit warning of the dangers a hasty migration may cause, called my attention when it mentioned the academic sphere...

Can the use of Open Office actually cause students to get lower grades? Tricky question.

OpenOffice.org (or LibreOffice) is often the first step taken before abandoning Windows and moving to GNU/Linux. Microsoft knows that. Well, Microsoft Office requires operating systems that are not secure and it is also insecure on its own, as this new post reminds us as well:

Why do people accept faulty operating systems?

[..]

Sure they will throw the same tantrums with a physical computer fault however, on the software side of things they will accept without a murmur and actually request to install the most bug ridden, virus infected and unstable operating systems in the history of computing. They will use these systems and not care that it is sending spam to the four corners of the world (why do people say that? The world is round) or some fifty odd viruses are siphoning off their passwords, credit card numbers and personal details for sale on the black market.

Russia is said to be preparing for a nationwide move to GNU/Linux and the following article author wonders how Microsoft will respond.

Will Russia's Move to GNU/Linux Prompt Microsoft to Repair Its Image?

[...]

The Russian government recently made a surprising decision: to create a national operating system based on GNU/Linux. The motivation for this development is crystal clear: escaping the Microsoft Windows monopoly. Russia will gain two other huge advantages due to the shift: lower software expenditures and full access to the operating system's source code. The source code access will allow any discovered security flaws to be quickly fixed. Russia appears to be following China's lead. A few years ago, China also decided to shift to a Linux-based operating system known as Red Flag Linux. In this article, I will discuss some of the underlying issues that are causing countries, institutions, individuals, and governments to defect to GNU/Linux.

We wrote about it days ago in relation to Microsoft Office. The bottom line is that it's Free software (OpenOffice.org/LibreOffice and GNU/Linux) that gives Microsoft a major headache. Apple is very different in nature on the desktop (where Microsoft Office runs natively too). ⬆