07.18.20
Gemini version available ♊︎Proprietary Software is Just Far Too Slow to Compete With Free/Libre Software Which Spreads and Improves Rapidly
Summary: Microsoft has failed to catch up with Free (as in freedom, or “libre”) software; it’s too late for Microsoft to do anything about it except burn billions of dollars per year trying to undermine and destabilise Free software projects (layoffs serve to show this strategy isn’t financially sustainable because it evidently does not scale)
THE layoffs at Microsoft aren’t exactly surprising (four rounds of layoffs since June). The stock too is affected (Apple’s also). Those who followed closely enough would know that Microsoft merely fakes its current status (Azure layoffs confirm what we've been hearing from Microsoft insiders). It’s an empire in pain and it’s trying to destroy (or somehow control) what replaces it. GNU and Linux have come under many attacks lately, with deliberate distraction and disruption taking various forms.
Drupal is meanwhile releasing version 9 (see our latest Daily Links under “CMS”). It’s a big release, it packs in a lot of progressive, cumulative changes. We still use Drupal for our front page (for new visitors) and it’s a very reliable CMS. It rose from nothing (a student’s project) to a Web giant in just a few years; the same can be said about WordPress, which is also about to have a very major stable release.
If anything, what those things come to show is that Free software dominates not only the kernel space/stack. It also dominates Web servers (Microsoft is reduced to a miniscule 4% of the market; only the Linux Foundation would use IIS in 2020). Now the CMS space…
“…some projects that still move to GitHub are in fact bribed by Microsoft to do this. So it’s expensive and unsustainable. In fact, GitHub still loses a lot of money.”Free/Libre software attracts a lot of developers and testers. Microsoft has just fired thousands of employees, but perhaps tens of thousands contribute to core Free/Libre software every day. Some extend and augment with plug-ins, but some send patches upstream, improving the ‘core’ software. By contrast, Windows and Office have no such contributions or even contributors. Almost none. So they rapidly stagnate, becoming just old fossils with lock-in, foul play and nothing else. The marketing and bribery budgets increase over time because there’s no other way to shove those things down people’s throats.
It seems quite safe to say and rather fair to guess that Microsoft won’t survive the next decade any better than Sun did. We’ve heard that a lot of users, senior staff and projects have been leaving GitHub (awareness of the risks certainly helps!) and some projects that still move to GitHub are in fact bribed by Microsoft to do this. So it’s expensive and unsustainable. In fact, GitHub still loses a lot of money. Judging by the fact that Azure too has layoffs, Mr. Guthrie’s rogue strategy — an attack disguised as “love” — seems to be costing the company a fortune without anything to show for it (except bribed media that spreads lies like “Microsoft loves Linux” — lies that very few actual GNU/Linux users believe).
Microsoft can say it loves “Open Source” (openwashing), which means too little, but it will never like or even tolerate software freedom. So Microsoft is basically doomed and we expect more layoffs to come, albeit secretly with excuses (like saying that so-called ‘HEY HI’ is replacing the workers, hence it’s just Microsoft ingenuity). Microsoft is a fossil or dead man walking… █
“DOS will be with us forever. We’ve learned how passionate people are about DOS.”
–Former Microsoft Vice President Brad Silverberg
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