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Microsoft's Chief Linux Strategist Interviewed
sl0wp0is0n writes "Computerworld has published an interview with Microsoft's chief Linux strategist, Martin Taylor. It's interesting to find out that Microsoft thinks and predicts Novell (SuSE) will be the dominant Linux distribution they'll have to compete against. The interview also has Taylor talking about indemnification, IBM and his realization that customers generally adopt Linux to get a better TCO than Unix, not Windows."
When you're getting something for free, [vendors] get a lot of "get out of jail free" cards. You see [people saying], "Oh well. We didn't pay for it anyway, so we shouldn't care too much about security. We'll fix it ourselves. Oh, there's no regression testing. Who cares? We'll do that ourselves." But once you start writing a check, you now have demands, and rightfully so.
And indeed, for me, this marks the start of Linux having the potential to be a threat. It means that if a commercial Linux is a viable option, then more commercial software will be written.
At least as far as this interview goes, it's all about corporate strategies AGAINST Linux suppliers and integrators. Little to nothing about OSS's/Unix's/Linux's strengths. Again, they are fundamentally missing the point in the interview.
That doesn't mean they aren't using their legal and financial blunderbuss to defeat the Linux vendors/integrators the same way they wiped out Netscape, though. If so, they almost certainly won't talk about it in an interview.
Total cost of Ownership ?
I thought and it was Microsoft and its BSA/SPA satellite that software could not be owned, hence the EULAs.
So, they imply one might OWN a system ?
Trolling using another account since 2005.
they think of Internet Explorer..
No one pays for that, so Microsoft "Get Out Of Jail" for that? I think not...
And also according to those click-through licenses my rights pretty much include "up to but not more than $5".. so that's a comfort is it?
They're absolutely right. The major migrations in big corporations tend to be replacement of Solaris boxes, with I suppose HP and AIX getting a look in too.
The home user running Mandrake isn't what they're thinking about here, though I'm sure they spend some time on that too. No - they're thinking about datacentre stuff. But don't take my word for it - ask Sun. Ask 'em how their sales are recently, and why they've had to start offering Linux and x86.
Cheers,
Ian
Microsoft's anti-Linux strategist, on the contrary, will probably be recommending more changes to Microsoft networking to put more roadblocks in the way of the Samba people, more file-format changes to Word and Excel to screw OpenOffice, and stuff like that. It's rumored that Microsoft has in the past hired actors to behave like really obnoxious Linux fanboys at trade shows, damaging Linux's image - if it's true, no doubt he'll have a hand in that, too.
Any other surprises? The surprising thing, a little bit, is how predictable our conversations are now with customers. ... One other thing that's come up more over the last 12 months is this notion of indemnification [against patent and copyright claims]. More and more customers are asking us, "Help me understand what you do from an indemnification perspective versus HP or IBM or Red Hat or Novell." That's weighing into decisions more and more. ... Customers began introducing it and asking me about it more than I was introducing it to them.
The FUD is working, and working well.
My Karma: ran over your Dogma
StrawberryFrog
IBM has had a deliberate strategy of not having its own distro. This guy obviously thinks that is a bad idea. He is implying that IBM has no idea of where it is going with Linux. He seems to like what Novell is doing though. Personally, I think he is totally underestimating the enemy (IBM). IBM has shown that it can totally re-invent itself if necessary.
It's sensible in a 'spin' interview like this to focus on persuading people that windows is better than what's currently out there.
.NET API, Office/music/video DRM, putting increasing resources into the .NET versus Java battle, dropping the price of windows to emerging markets and encouraging the use of non-standard MS technologies by bundling new API's and apps into windows at every opportunity.
I'm sure they also have an anti-OSS strategy internally but this is likely to be very sensitive information. Probably their anti-OSS strategy includes creating new standards for the Web via Avalon/Indigo that become reliant on having the windows
These are the kind of strategies that are neccessary to discourage linux adoption. Every change to windows that makes it less easy to migrate to linux must be hidden as either eye-candy, ease-of-use or a DRM "feature".
Matt
To some extend they miss the point focusing on Linux only.
Firefox, OpenOffice on MS-Windows are very good mid term alternative on the road to the linux operating system.
Once a user is used to these FLOSS tools on MS-Windows, the cost of change towards Linux as the OS becomes marginal.
Microsoft's patches have been known to create quite a few problems, you would hope that a company with the resources they command would be able to perform a relatively compentant test of a patch.
I'd guess that this focus will end up biting MS in the ass, in the end. Currently, Microsoft is trying (well, still trying) to get Windows on servers, datacenters, etc. If it's not a desktop, Microsoft is trying to put Windows on it. Why? Because they've saturated their growth in the desktop market (that came about as a result of the mass computer buying of the 90s). The only way to continue their growth is to diversify. And the biggest and most successful brand name they have is Windows.
The problem is, while they're busying trying to still penetrate the server market, which Linux is doing a nice job at expanding into (at the expense, mostly, of Unix machines), Linux has the real potential to encroach on the desktop market. I'm sure Microsoft realizes that. I'm sure they also realizing that "circling the wagons" to "weather out" the Linux threat won't work. That's the whole point of Longhorn. The fact that WinFS *still* isn't coming in Windows is a real disappoint/problem, though. It's both a sign of a core problem (backwards compatibility, both in the outside appearance but also in the code itself which is surely a major reason it was put on hold) and a sign that Microsoft's strategy of adding in tons of features (vapor or otherwise) isn't working.
In the past, the FUD/vapor of a perspective product launch, even if it kept being pushed back, would end up killing or crippling the competitor's product. Instead, Linux really hasn't done anything but slowly grow in the desktop space. Without an actual strategy to combat Linux, a sudden burst in people using Linux could severely cripple the Windows money stream for Microsoft. Then, Microsoft will have to use its massive cash reserve to try to come up with a way to continue to make money.
Of course, if Microsoft develops another highly profitable department, this becomes less of an issue. But, the only thing that's even close to that is XBox. Maybe that'll keep Microsoft alive, but then Microsoft will only be known as a #2 or #3 console maker. I don't think the CEO of Microsoft would like that too much.
Eurohacker European paranoia, gun rights, and h
Bah, pay no attention to him. He's looking at linux through corporate eyes.
The way I see it, the Linux distributions out there are members of a bicycling team. Each distro has a different role to play at any given time. Redhat starts a sprint to wear the competitors (create brand recognition). Debian stays back and steady in case RH crashes (to support the user base). Gentoo attacks on an uphill, pulls Debian (consolidates the lessons learned from other distros and helps them keep up). Suse and Mandrake offer protection to the contenders on the team (making commercial software vendors warm up to support Linux).
This guy just can't tell which team is winning, Linux or Microsoft. He's used to Microsoft's go-it-alone-one-gorilla-on-a-tricyle approach. So one of Linux' cyclists is gaining fast on his Gorilla, and the others seem to be holding back and doing completely different things.
So basically he's saying he's afraid of bicycles. Or something like that.
Yeah, I read Lance Armstrong's books over the past couple of days. So blame my analogy on him.
You are checking your backups, aren't you?
"which release of Fedora...which version of Redhat?"
Which release of Windows? 98SE? ME? 2000? XP? Pro? Which servicepacks? With what patches?
You're inventing a problem that frankly isnt real. Most commercial non-opensource Linux programs run as well today as they did five years ago.
The trick, if you're desperate to avoid system update conflicts, is called static linking and it works just fine.
It's not like shared library version issues is a new or linux-only problem.
And if you're talking actual enterprise-level 'we'll help you fix this' support, that's never a problem. You support what's profitable to support and ignore any segments too small to sell profitable support to.
another angle on this that i don't see mentioned often: the nature of the man-hours component of TCO are different between windows admins and linux admins.
windows admins spend a lot of time patching machines, doing windows "refreshes" (ie, clean wipe and reinstall of the OS and applications - interesting that this process actually has a *name* in the windows world), exterminating virus outbreaks, following MSKB documents step by step, etc.
meanwhile, linux admins spend a larger chunk of their TCO man-hours on setting up systems and software packages. they often have to have a better understanding of the underlying technology to get the package optimally configured for their particular platform. once it's set up and configured, it just runs and runs and runs.
so, it seems to me that:
i wonder if MS figures this waste-vs.-investment differential into their TCO calculations. somehow i doubt it.
pr0n - keeping monitor glass spotless since 1981.