Response to "Linux/open source is stealing from Microsoft"

A reader told us about South Africa. He highlighted Microsoft's response to Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi. Glyn Moody says more about this tactless response, having seen the same article. It's right to the point:

So there we have it: Microsoft's world, there is no such thing as disinterested generosity, no such thing as altruism. Which means, of course, that Richard Stallman, Linus Torvalds and Tim Berners-Lee - to name but a few of those so-called "altruists" - are, in Microsoft's opinion, nothing but liars or utterly self-deluded....

What a sad, cold, lonely little circle of hell Microsoft inhabits.

You can add lack of ethics and disregard for the law. Watch this comical image of Doug "Elephant in the Room" Mahugh.

I have not got any cards which portray me as a Vice President of IASA Malaysia though. Doug Mahugh of Microsoft has...

“The older tactics which include characteristic open source and "communism" truly backfired for Microsoft, which hopes we will forget.”The cheap shots are probably beside the point, but as Groklaw pointed out when Microsoft snubbed GPLv3 about 9 months ago, it essentially spits in Stallman's face (PJ was paraphrasing con-sys). This type of arrogance can probably be explained by Microsoft's belief that free is evil and that GNU/Linux deserves no place in this world. The older tactics which include characteristic open source and "communism" truly backfired for Microsoft, which hopes we will forget. We mustn't. In case you ever wonder why Microsoft approaches open source companies at the moment, see these diagrams and remind yourselves of Steve Ballmer's remark from last October.

Microsoft, which attends OSBC (thanks, Matt) continues to present its portfolio of olive branches and defections. Watch what Microsoft is up to with JasperSoft, which uses GPL for portions of its work.

Excel is the focus of a technology interoperability initiative between Microsoft and open-source BI specialist JasperSoft.

[...]

Work between the companies continues Microsoft's strategy of ensuring that Windows remains the platform of choice for users running open source applications and middleware, so they do not drift into using Linux instead.

This ought to have become common knowledge by now. Microsoft knows that it cannot eliminate open source software or its developers, so it tries hard to eliminate one's core and foundation, primarily GNU, Linux, and the GPLv3. Microsoft is trying hard to 'steal' projects from GNU/Linux. ⬆

Microsoft motto: If you can't destroy something, subvert it to your advantage