Hilf Speaks About Linux Through Microsoft Eyes

inkslinger77 writes "Microsoft's Linux-pro, Bill Hilf pulled out of the Linux World conference in Australia, but speaks with Computerworld anyway about what exactly his team gets up to. He talks about how Microsoft plans to make money from Linux and how they use Linux in their overall market strategy."

Comments

Editors Should Read the Interview

[eldavojohn]

Alright, this is the worst relaying of an interview I have ever seen posted on Slashdot. And here's why ...

Microsoft's Linux-pro, Bill Hilf pulled out of the Linux World conference in Australia, but speaks with Computerworld anyway about what exactly his team gets up to.

Read the article, it was due to scheduling conflicts. Don't make it sound like he's blowing it off:

There has been plenty of speculation as to why you have pulled out of the conference - but what is the real reason?

I had a scheduling conflict for an internal meeting that could not be moved. Believe me, I would much rather be at LinuxWorld in Sydney.

Yes, LinuxWorld is a big thing that he should be making but he doesn't work for Linux. Linux doesn't cut his paychecks, Microsoft does. And if he's got something to do internally, leave it at that.

Furthermore, inkslinger77 goes on to say:

He talks about how Microsoft plans to make money from Linux...

No he doesn't.

As you can see from TFI:

How does Microsoft plan to make money from open source and Linux?

Microsoft recognizes the benefits as well as the drawbacks of the OSS development model. We are incorporating its most positive elements into our development practices. Our top priority is to produce great software that meets the needs of our customers, partners, and other constituent communities. We recently embarked on interoperability projects with SugarCRM and Jboss, open source vendors you normally wouldn't associate with Microsoft. The reason we pursued these relationships is because in both cases nearly half of their customer base is running Windows Server. By working with these companies, we can help our joint customers ease interoperability issues. The deals are also a prime example of the success partners are finding on the Windows platform regardless of the development model they employ.

Did he say anything about Linux in there? I don't even see him using the word. He talks about how Microsoft can better themselves by learning from the open source software out there.

According to Hilf, hey're not "making money from Linux." Instead they're learning from the OSS development model and I think it's about time Microsoft starts to realize that they can learning a thing or two about how bug identification (among other things) is supposed to be done.

Jesus, the title of this article--"Linux: Hilf Speaks About Linux Through Microsoft Eyes"--belies its true nature, most of the interview is spent discussing OSS, understanding it, the sociological aspects of it and its development process.

When it comes to Microsoft, I'm one of the first people to throw stones (and hard!). But this review of this interview is ridiculous! I don't know if inkslinger77 didn't even read the article or if this is a classic case of 'spin.'

I'm going to send inkslinger77 and ScuttleMonkey a big " Read the Fucking Interview " on this one.

Reactive VS Proactive

[Half a dent]

MS is a reactive company (I'm sorry but extra graphical bells and whistles in Vista doesn't count) it adds features of it's competitors in order to compete and usually wins due to it's existing market share.

IE is the perfect example - nothing changed on it since it "won" the browser wars, "no need for improvement because it is perfect" was the MS line. But then Firefox came along (yes I know there is also Opera and others BUT Firefox got the market share), suddenly a new version of IE is on the horizon (but only for limited operating systems to encourage us to upgrade to Vista).

If MS controls a market sector it has no reason to innovate "we're #1 so why try harder?" syndrome. This is not an anti-MS rant because this is a wider trait with most monopolising companies.

I hope that some day MS learns from the open source community, not by giving their software away but by not being afraid to open up a little bit. But whilst they control the market they do not have to be proactive do they?

Only if Linux and other open source products make major inroads into MS sales (20%+?) will we see any change of direction from MS and then it may be more of a PR stunt than actual change (plus of course adding a few features that OSS already has that most users never get a chance to use).

Actual dialog from the last conference

[paiute]

Linus: Hilf, do you actually expect me to believe that you want to contibute to the Linux community?

Hilf: No, Mr. Torvalds. I expect you to die.