Microsoft Proclaims Death of Free Software Model

geoff313 writes " As previously mentioned here, Microsoft's new wave of FUD has begun to arrive. This time it is courtesy of Bradley Tipp, Microsoft's UK national systems engineer, who spoke at the Microsoft IT Forum in Copenhagen. In this article from ZDNet UK, he is quoted as saying that 'Linux is great' and 'there are a lot of things we should learn from open source' but then is quick to point out that 'We haven't talked to a single user who has said they're using [open source] because it's better.' Another Microsoft employee was quoted as saying 'At least if Linux takes off, their viruses will propagate and we won't be seen as the bad guys any more.' I for one am happy to see that they are taking their new interest in security seriously, and I'm sure you all are too. Most interesting is the assertion that the decision by Red Hat to end support for its free distribution and Novell's aquisition of SUSE marks not only the death of free software, but actually is a validation of Microsoft's business model. Does anyone besides Microsoft see these events as the end of Free software?" I use Free software because it's better; they just didn't ask.

Comments

Free software is free

[Erv Walter]

I'll be honest. I don't use free software because it's "better". I use free software mostly because it's free (as in "free beer"). I appreciate that so many people donate their time and effort in order to create tools and applications that anyone can use without paying an arm and a leg.

I'm not a corporation, and I can't afford thousands of dollars in license fees to run a web server + mail server + database server for my personal use at home.