Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Loves 'Open' Core

"Microsoft didn't want a lot of other companies writing code that could compete. It wanted to keep the barriers to entry very high. The idea, in fact, was to keep raising the bar, putting in more layers of software and APIs, which developers would then have to support. Microsoft wanted to make it so gnarly that anybody who couldn't devote a team of one hundred programmers to every Windows application would be out of the game. [...] Now it was time to annihilate a new competitor, and Gates wanted Eller for the job."

--Barbarians Led by Bill Gates, a book composed
by the daughter of Microsoft's PR mogul



Summary: Microsoft employees may be trying to annihilate software freedom as a phenomenon while they enter new hosts after a long Microsoft career

THE TERM "Open Core" was attributed to former Microsoft employees some weeks ago. This idea of mixing proprietary software with some Open Source and then calling the combined thing "Open Source" is an appealing plan to companies like Microsoft. Monty from Microsoft's CodePlex Foundation is finally taking sides in the "Open Core" debate/controversy and guess which side he takes?



Monty Widenius, one of the founders of MySQL, has an interesting post where he makes an attempt to define what it means to be an “open source company“. I’m happy to say that the OpenNMS Group meets that definition, but I’m not 100% sure it is complete as the requirement that an open source company is one that “produces software” does leave out a number of companies that promote and deploy open source solutions without actually writing code. But I think it is a start.


It is important to reward companies whose products are truly Free software. OpenNMS is one of them and it has a solid business going. It's not impossible to become an entirely free/libre company which is also profitable. Those who take shortcuts may be more likely to become profitable fast, but they are cheating. Then you have companies that make money by selling proprietary software that exploits free/libre software. The Black Duck folks are an example of this and Black Duck has roots in Microsoft. This week we have Phil Odence from Black Duck selling fear of unfamiliar code and doing so poorly. "Open source has created software overload," claims his headline, but as someone says in the first comment:

There's nothing wrong with this article, but I thought the headline is not appropriate to the article content. I don't see the software overload here.


Well, that just happens to be IDG's 'open source' blog, which is not exactly pro-open source. We wrote about this subject several times before. The bloggers there are hardly open source experts or proponents and one of the main editors (if not the sole editor, Julie) came from IDG's Microsoft Subnet. Alan Shimel, whose selection by IDG we criticised back in April, comes from the CISO group and Ryan as told us last night, "you click on their link and their home page says they're a Microsoft affiliate. They need to hide their shills better... "open source fiction" brought to you by Friends of Microsoft."

“They need to hide their shills better... "open source fiction" brought to you by Friends of Microsoft.”
      --Ryan Farmer
There are several companies out there that push for making proprietary software and finding ways of calling it "open". One such company is Likewise, which also has roots in Microsoft (the managers are former Microsoft employees) and relationships with Microsoft, including software patents [1, 2, 3, 4]. It was not exactly shocking to find that OStatic uses Likewise staff at the moment in order to make a case for Open Core (in the form of a "Guest Post").

Microsoft is not just Microsoft. Former employees of the company have entered new arenas, including Microsoft's competitors which they are trying to change from the inside. Apple too has unleashed staff that poisons the Free software world. There are other examples of companies we did not name here -- companies like Centrify [1, 2, 3].

Centrify



Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft's 'Lawsuit Diplomacy' (SLAPPs Riding UK Libel Law and Piggybacking UK GDPR, Inapplicable!) Will Only Give a Worse Image to Microsofters (and Microsoft), Give Exposure to Even More Suppressed Facts and Scandals
Microsoft came to dominate some sectors because of (or owing to) crimes; Microsoft won't just go away without some more crimes.
Five (or Three) Years Without Social Control Media
Glyn Moody quit X (Twitter)
Why GNU/Linux is Growing
There's growing interest in GNU/Linux right now because people do not fancy buying a new PC just to 'upgrade' (more spying) Windows
 
Links 20/04/2025: Many Data Breaches and Growing Censorship Wave
Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/04/2025: Canadian Elections and "Use the Best Tools You Have for the Current Environment"
Links for the day
Deja vu: Hitler's Birthday, Andreas Tille elected Debian Project Leader again
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 20/04/2025: Bleeding Constitution and ChatGPT Infuriates Users Some More
Links for the day
Chinese OEMs (and World's Largest) Pave a Path Out of Microsoft Windows
So Microsoft now values (or prices) Vista 11 at just $140?
Gemini Links 20/04/2025: Contradictions of Mark Carney and Blog Questions Challenge
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 19, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, April 19, 2025
Electronics in People's Bedrooms
Modern technology not only blurred the gap between "functions" of rooms
Gemini Links 19/04/2025: Contingencies, GTD, and Old Computers
Links for the day
Links 19/04/2025: Economic Races, Charm Offensives, and USB-C Rants
Links for the day
Links 19/04/2025: "Infantilization at Big Tech" and LLM Slop Abused in Defiance of Workplace Rules/Policies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/04/2025: Palm Addiction and Real Experts
Links for the day
Egypt is Controlled by Google, Not Microsoft
Moving from Microsoft to Google is not the answer
Microsofters Say They Cannot Find a Job (That They Want) Because of Techrights, But Techrights Merely Reported on Their Behaviour
Quit pointing the finger at people who are recipients of abuse or merely mention the abuse
Free Software and Standards - Not Marketing Blitz - Needed Amid Growing Severity of Dependency on Hostile Suppliers (or Another Country's Sovereignty)
ZenDiS can be described as the "Center for Digital Sovereignty of Public Administration"
When It Comes to the Web, Google is Evil and It Destroys the Web's Integrity With LLM Slop
Even academia, which is meant to keep standards high, is being lured into LLM slop
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 18, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 18, 2025
Links 18/04/2025: "Fentanylware (TikTok) Exodus Continues", Chinese Weapons Allegedly in Russia Already
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/04/2025: Price of Games and State of Tinylog
Links for the day
Sounds Like IBM is Preparing for Mass Layoffs/Redundancies in Red Hat, Albeit in "PIP" (Performance Improvement Plan) or "Relocation" Clothing
This isn't the "old" IBM; they're applying pressure by confusion and humiliation
Gemini Links 17/04/2025: Role of Language and Back to Mutt for E-mail
Links for the day
"Sayonara" (さよなら), Microsoft
Windows had fallen below iOS in some countries
Links 18/04/2025: Layoffs at Microsoft Infosys and Qt Becoming Increasingly Proprietary (Plus Slop)
Links for the day
Google News is Dying
treating MElon's algorithmic/biased site as a source of verified news
Microsoft's Attack Dogs Have Failed. Now What?
It would be utterly foolish to assume that Microsoft has any intention of changing
All Your "Github Projects" Will be Gone One Day (Just Like Skype)
If you have code you wish to share and keep, then start learning how to do so on your own
To Understand Who's Truly Controlling You Follow the Trail of Censorship (or Self-Censorship)
Do not let media steal and steer the narrative; CoCs are not about "social justice", they're about corporate domination
Fedora Already Lost Its Soul Under IBM
Fedora used to be very strict compared to many other distros and it had attracted very bright volunteers
Microsoft is Still Attacking GNU/Linux and the Net
Microsoft bribed the government using money that did not even exist
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 17, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 17, 2025
Gemini Links 18/04/2025: Pinephone Pro and Linux is too Easy
Links for the day