04.30.15
Microsoft Embracing, Extending, Extinguishing the Linux-centric Arduino and Raspberry Pi, Making Them Windows Devices
When food becomes FUD
Summary: Raspberry Pi and Arduino carry water for Microsoft as part of the publicity stunts for Vista 10, the operating system which Microsoft tells investors is “marketing”
More Microsoft infiltrations (the "embrace, extend extinguish" type) were announced in this week’s Microsoft conference. They’re paying for it. It goes further than Android, which Microsoft is now trying to engulf by assimilation (this article from a Microsoft-leaning site called it “huge news”).
Today’s other news (not about Android) says “Microsoft woos makers: Windows 10 for RPi 2, Arduino”, which means taking them away from Linux. Microsoft is “Embracing, Extending, Extinguishing” (the old trick), as was done previously to OLPC. Arduino and Raspberry Pi are making a huge mistake here, but Microsoft is almost certainly paying them to play along. Back in the days we wrote that “Raspberry Pi Represents the Rise of Freedom-Respecting Embedded GNU/Linux” and months ago, right after Raspberry Pi climbed to Microsoft’s bed we wrote that “OLPC Lessons Not Learned: Imposing Microsoft Windows on Young Students Using Embrace, Extend and Extinguish of Raspberry Pi“.
Microsoft is still bribing (or ‘incentivising’, to use a euphemism) those who are spreading Linux, using the guise of ‘deals’. The bribed are selling out for a quick buck, just as Novell did back in 2006.
Raspberry Pi may soon be increasingly used as just a Windows terminal, based on articles from Microsoft boosters [1, 2, 3]. Is this a good thing? If Raspberry Pi becomes just a terminal for Windows, then what’s the point of Linux? Microsoft is now working to remove Linux altogether, making Raspberry Pi just another Windows computer. See articles like “Get your Windows 10 preview for Raspberry Pi 2 while it’s hot”, among others [1, 3, 4, 5, 6]. “Microsoft releases Windows 10 IoT developer tool for Raspberry Pi 2,” according to one source, so it’s all about spreading Windows to a lot of devices.
Arduino sells out just like Raspberry Pi, based on reports like this . To quote: “During Build 2015 this week Microsoft and Arduino have announced a new partnership that will provide makers, hobbyists and developers with the ability to use an “Arduino Certified” Windows 10 software package.”
What a misuse of the word “Certified”. Nothing needs to be Linux-certified, it’s just Microsoft marketing jargon. Also see articles like “Microsoft goes big on Arduino boards” and “Windows 10 gets ‘Arduino-certified’ with two new open source libraries”. There is nothing “open source” about it. Gross openwashing.
This is all part of the Vista 10 marketing blitz, which Microsoft itself admits is all about marketing, not substance. It’s a big pile of lies. █
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dev_one said,
May 2, 2015 at 9:56 am
It only makes sense Microsoft would like to offer a viable choice for entry-level hardware platforms–especially from an educational perspective. Neither the Raspberry nor Arduino folks need to “sell out” to Microsoft for Microsoft to support the platforms. They are, after all, open hardware platforms and anyone is free to develop software, or operating systems, that run on them. There’s no proof Microsoft has paid off either company and why would they when they don’t even need the company’s agreement.
Linux can be free and that makes it an obvious choice for a very low cost hardware platform. Few would want to pay $100+ for a copy of Windows for a $35 hardware platform. But Microsoft wisely has made Windows 10 free on certain platforms. It’s not some evil plan, it’s a lot like Canonical going after mobile devices with Linux. It just makes sense.
Instead of embracing the added choice of free operating systems, Mr Schestowitz makes it out to be a bad thing. Nobody is forcing anyone to run Windows 10 on their Pi. Everyone is still free to run Linux. Where’s the big problem?
I find it amusing how Linux loyalists seem to go on the offensive when suddenly there’s another free alternative. Let’s face it, a big portion of Linux’s very meager desktop market share is because it can be free. By many objective, and subjective, measures it’s otherwise inferior but free is always appealing to many. Just look at what happened with Android. I think Microsoft is smart to get on that bandwagon. They should have done so a long time ago.
This is one of the most biased, ill-informed, and just plain illogical posts I’ve read in a long time.