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Could Microsoft Buy Red Hat?
An anonymous reader writes "Various news sources including ZDnet are today reporting that Microsoft is considering buying out Red Hat, speculating that 'Microsoft could see Red Hat's acquisition as a nice way to undermine IBM, but might not consider that a sufficient reason to do it,' adding that Red Hat is however '...a company that wants to be Microsoft and, like Microsoft, makes its living packaging and selling other people's ideas.'" That description seems to miss the key point that Red Hat releases the software they package and sell as Free software, and that both companies pay coders to create and improve software in the first place.
Buy him out boys!
Technology, the cause of and solution to all of life's problems.
Gates: Your Internet ad was brought to my attention, but I can't figure out what, if anything, Red Hat does, so rather than risk competing with you, I've decided simply to buy you out
Homer: I reluctantly accept your proposal!
Gates: Well everyone always does. Buy 'em out, boys!
Technology, the cause of and solution to all of life's problems.
Not red hat, red herring.
If Microsoft bought Red Hat, wouldn't this mean that Microsoft would be under the GPL when it comes to releasing software?
"Until Longhorn is fully operational we are vulnerable. Linux is too well equipped. It's more dangerous than you realize."
"Dangerous to your OS division, not to my Office line."
"Linux will continue to gain support along with OpenOffice as long as Red Hat continues to..."
"Red Hat will no longer be of any conern to us. I've just received word that the Emperor has purchased Red Hat and has ordered a completely new version of Linux that will be released sometime in the near future... IE not at all. The last remants of Unix have been swept away."
A MicroSoft distro of Linux!!
People here on Slashdot wouldn't know who to hate!!
This is just the sort of theing MS would do to drive everyone here (and in the Open Source Community) crazy....
If Redhat bought out Microsoft...THAT would be something.
I can't believe no one else posted this yet...
MS Linux
LongTail SSH Brute Force analysis tool is here!
Microsoft is dedicated to innovating on behalf of you, our customer. With the recent acquisition of Linux vendor Red Hat, Inc. we will continue to deliver on this promise. Customers who have grown beyond Linux now have an easier upgrade path for their expanding needs. "We feel that Microsoft can bring to the table a complete business solution with the new Windows Services for Unix 9.0," said Microsoft spokesman John Smith.
If aspiration is a virtue, achievement cannot be a vice.
This is probably more realistic...
MS Linux
versions 3.1 and 5.0 iirc. and i sold copies of it to a couple of local companies and got repeat business to support the servers they used it on. its turned out to be a very good deal for me. i think microsoft should buy debian instead though. thats what i use on all my servers these days.
872835240
Gates: What you think I got rich by handing out checks?
The days of the digital watch are numbered.
How would react businesses currently using Red Hat?
I dunno. Let's ask all of those corporations using PeopleSoft. Oh, wait...
-- The reason it's called the right wing? Irony.
With the GPL, it seems all the RHAT people could simply take Fedora, run, create RedWhiteAndBlueHat and make Microsoft buy them again and again and again.
Is it "at their balls" or "by their balls"?
Either way, it's an amusing visual . . . ;-)
I'm not tense. I'm just terribly, terribly, alert.
"Being that Red Hat is one of the largest financial contributors to Linux and open source"
Red Hat as add money contributed to it. But did the create or entirely manned Gnome ? They arenot even participating at all in KDE , did they create Apache ? Do they do the GNU/Linux kernel by themself or they only have 6 Kernel developper ?
I hope you dont give Financial advice , because you dont do your reasearch and dont know crap.
Yes it sure looks that there is no substance at all to the blogentry apart from some whatif's.
It appears they used the olde MS vs linux formula:
combine MS and linux in one headline and you are guaranteed to have slashdot come over and look at your ads.
Let's see what else I can come up with:
MS hates Linux: for hash words on some conference
MS denies Linux: same event, please tear me down version(but still give the attention)
MS fights Linux: MS will make better product (in the future) then linux (as it is now).
MS defeats Linux: newsgrab pointless statistics.
MS buys Linux: Pie in the sky line this one.
MS Improves linux: MS trying to drive a wedge in Linux by releasing a binary-only kernel module.
MS embraces Linux: will make extensions later.
MS Loves Linux: but only for that strict niche.
MS acknowledges Linux: so what but will make MS seem realistic.
MS sells Linux: to the highers bidder after gutting it from customers?
MS verb Linux: the central theme that gets you good catchy headlines.
This space is intentionally staring blankly at you
Wouldn't it be nice if Microsoft sued SCO over that?? :)
Maybe I'm in the wrong corner of the world on this one, but I think Red Hat is the distribution becoming less and less relevant. With the EOL of their distribution for the masses in favor of the not-quite-RedHat Fedora, I see more and more people installing SuSE or something else entirely. I've seen two local companies change 50+ server installs [each] from RedHat to SuSE in the last year. Of course, I could just be living in a lizard loving corner of the US.
Deep from an obscure unlisted URL somewhere in the slashdot FAQ:
:-)
Q: Many of my article submissions on slashdot seem to go unnoticed. How can I generate more interest and responses--even if they're a bunch of flaming retorts?
A: While the interests and levels of expertise on slashdot cover their entire respective spectrums, one sure-fire way to get guaranteed attention on slashdot is to post anything with the words "Microsoft" and "Linux" in the same subject line. You're likely to receive more attention if the submission implies any of the following:
1. Microsoft does anything superior to Linux
2. Microsoft wants to buy/cheat/steal anything from the Linux community.
3. Microsoft makes any business move to check Open Source/FSF initiatives.
Submissions that point out the obvious will be appended only with posts of the "Me too" nature. Be sure to punch it up with a new spin or a repeat of a post that is at least 30 days old.
It should also be noted that any submissions or posts that are PRO-Microsoft will be rejected or modded down respectively. Be sure to bash MS thoughtfully and thoroughly with disputable data, imaginative spelling, and ambiguous grammar.
SEE ALSO: Flaming, Linux Bigotry, Open Source Zealotry, and Mac Fanboy posts.
[big, cheesy "I-just-bonked-your-daughter" grin]
I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
I think I saw the same news source write an article about how the wolf man and dracula has teamed up to buy out fedora at the stroke of midnight and use fedora's power to summon up the spirits that'll help bring about the end of the world.
I, for one, welcome our new Microsoft Linux overlord.
I for one welcome our new Microsoft overlor.......
Wait... ummm..... Wow. Deja vu.....
Would Redhat have to change it's name to Asshat if Microsoft bought them?
Great, I read your post, and now my monitor has a drippy nose! :)
~REZ~ #43301. Who'd fake being me anyway?
I agree.
There really isn't a story here. Anything but the single fact that these two guys met about something, and Gates got asked for comment. He didn't say anything to clarify, confirm or deny.
All we know is that Ballmer and Szulik sat down and chewed the fat. We don't know what they spoke about, and we don't know what the topic was. Hell for all we know, they discussed underwear preferences (tighty-whities vs boxers).