Microsoft to Give Away Software

dptalia writes "In an attempt to suck up to the European Union, Microsoft has announced that it will give away software allowing multiple operating systems to run simultaneously. Microsoft says this is part of their strategy to make more software available through OSS." From the article: "Georg Greve, president of the Free Software Foundation Europe, said he had not seen the details of Microsoft's giveaway but cautioned against assuming it was motivated only by pragmatism or a new spirit of cooperation. 'If Microsoft were doing this for altruistic reasons, it would be a first,' Greve said. 'I think they are probably trying to get more machines on the Windows platform, and they may also be trying to improve relations in Brussels.'"

Comments

Maybe it will be rigged

[192939495969798999]

Maybe it will be rigged to make the other OS run more crappy than windows, so that Windows looks like the better os... then again, how would you possibly do that! /ducks

Re:Maybe it will be rigged

[hcob$]

Maybe it will be rigged to make the other OS run more crappy than windows, so that Windows looks like the better os... then again, how would you possibly do that!

Easy, make the "alternative OS" crash ever 5 minutes... instead of 10 :)

Re:Maybe it will be rigged

[PsychicX]

Hmm. Let's look at the post:

In an attempt to suck up to the European Union

While the *ahem* leaning of Slashdot are no secret, is it really necessary to loudly scream, "We are the Fox News of the Internet!" ? You'd think the editors would still at least have the decency to pretend that they're not blatantly anti-Microsoft.

Re:Maybe it will be rigged

[192939495969798999]

Someone is taking things kinda hard... a 'troll' mod for a Windows joke on Slashdot?

Re:Maybe it will be rigged

[smittyoneeach]

ODERINT DVM METVANT
Let them hate so long as they fear.
Lucius Accius, Fragment
(170 BC - 86 BC)

Re:Maybe it will be rigged

[killjoe]

Fox is anti democrat. They are against half of the population of america.

Slashdot LEANS anti MS (It's debatable and I'll get back to that) so they are against one corporation.

What's wrong with being against a corporation which everybody, even their defenders acknowledge acts unethically? Not one person who defends MS stands up and says "MS is a beacon of light and hope to the world" it's always "Sure they have done some crappy things in the past, but they are doing this one thing OK" or "sure they acted unethically but all businesses do" or "sure they acted unethically but they should not have been prosecuted because the anti-trust laws are bogus". Nobody, not even the most ardent defender of MS disputes the fact that the company is unethical.

Why do you get so worked up MS anyway? It's just another corporation, there are thousands of corporations. If I said Nissan, maytag, or rockport was a crappy corporation or made crappy products would you have a knipshiin about that?

Now does /. lean anti MS? I don't think so. There are a dozens if not hundreds of MS trolls, astro turfers and shills here on /. Take a survey of the highest ranked posts and you will see that most of them are pro MS. Pro MS comments always get upmodded especially if the take the edge of by saying "sure they are unethical but.....".

Finally.

So what? I am sick of hearing this complaint. If you don't like people critizing MS then go to gotdotnet or any one of hundreds of web sites where people dance around singing holy holy holy about MS and Bill Gates. It's a big internet, there is room for everybody.

Re:Maybe it will be rigged

[Anonymous Coward]

I am a former Microsoft employee, used to love Microsoft products, thought Windows 2000 was great and Windows XP moderately better, aside from the lack of an activation transfer feature. I thought it was great (well, once mks tools was installed for a proper shell), that is, until changes to the EULA came along with the service packs, and when Microsoft began suing their own customers. That is inexcusable.

Now, I was never against Linux, and in fact ran it from the beginning when you had to install it from floppies. The thing is, Windows had a huge head start on Linux and had improved rapidly (security issues aside) up to and including Windows XP and Win2K3, and Linux on the desktop, while a fun academic exercise, was a royal pain in the ass. One spent far more time tinkering, configuring, hacking code and applying patches than getting real work done. Around that time, when worms weren't so pervasive, I actually had a Windows box reach nine months of uptime when Win2K came out, and yes, it was a heavily used box.

Now the tables have turned. The OSS community have come together and they leapfrogged Windows in nearly every aspect imaginable. On the cross-platform front, there are vastly superior browsers centered around Netscape-derived projects (Mozilla/Gecko), vastly superior integrated desktop environments (KDE and to a lesser degree Gnome), and development tools are starting to gain ground on Visual Studio (Anjuta, Kdevelop).

It's to the point where I run Linux on servers and workstations at the office, and at home. Oh sure, there is the unavoidable need for a Windows machine or two, but they are by far in the minority. Why the switch? No worries about the BSA. No worries about tracking CALs, maintenance can be performed on a live system, PLUS Unix is herently far more secure. Not only that, but fire up Mandriva, Ubuntu, SuSE, Redhat, etc.and you have access to literally THOUSANDS of applications, all without having to worry about whether or not you'll have to hold ten minutes for re-activation, buy more licenses, or obtain the install disc. Lost or damaged your media? Microsoft will tell you "Go to the store and buy one" but with Linux I can just go download it.

Plus, have you ever used Konqueror? Compare that to explorer as a file manager, or to Apple's finder. Explorer is limiting, to put it very nicely.

When you come down to it, Windows sucks. What was it I liked so much about it? Everything works. Well, that is, you can get Windows drivers for everything. You can walk into CompUSA, pick ANY joystick, bring it home, and know it will work. Oh sure, the drivers in the box might be buggy, but just download the latest update. No problem finding drivers. No having to google for hours before you know which peripherals contain which chipsets, and whether or not the code projects exist and if they do whether or not they are mature enough and compatible with the kernel build you're running. (Oh Lord, I feel like I'm praising Microsoft. Well, they deserve it in this case).

I'm partial to Linux now, because Microsoft has stagnated so much. I cannot see the value in Office 2007 or even Office 2003 over Office 2000. I do not see any value in Windows Vista now that WinFS has been yanked. Oh sure, it'll be shiny, but who cares when OpenGL has been downgrated, your Fair Use rights are severely limited to the point where you might accidentally get DRM applied to your own media creations, let alone legally-purchased content you have Fair Rights to copy, and you can only activate twice, then after that hardwar5e drivers require re-purchase.

Microsoft has earned every bit of scorn they receive here, and I hope that the mainstream press reviews Vista and the conclusions come down to "WTF? DOn't waste your money upgrading. Upgrade to OS X or Linux instead."

Signed,

A former Microserf and diehard Windows fanatic who has come to the light side

Re:Using the open source money making model

[hcob$]

Also known as:

"The first one's always free"

They're not giving software away...

[Anonymous Coward]

UHHH

Its giving away (if you believe that) the data layout for its virtual hard disk (VHD) format used by VirtualPC and Virtual Server products.

I don't see anything about giving SOFTWARE away

Awww.

[Funkcikle]

Poor old Microsoft. Like information, they just want to be free!

And they would have been able to be so if it weren't for those meddling European kids...

"Old Man Gates! It was you all along!"

"Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" all over again

[Iphtashu Fitz]

announcing Tuesday that it would give away software to enable computers to run multiple operating systems at the same time.

So now they're going to do to VMWare exactly what they did to Netscape and others?

Summary is Totally Misleading

[mpapet]

FTFA:
Microsoft said it was relinquishing all license claims on its Virtual Hard Disk Image Format - new software that will allow computers running on rival products like Apple's OS X or Linux, its chief competitors in operating systems, to simultaneously run Windows.

They aren't giving anything away. In fact, they are going the other way allowing you to run other OS's. It will come as no surprise that it will be very easy to migrate to the MS crack pipe. But won't be able to go any other way.

Matusow said the decision was part of a Microsoft initiative begun in June to make more software available through so-called open source licenses, which enables independent designers to incorporate Microsoft products in their own software that they can then distribute for free.

This is a very good effor to subvert the term "Open Source" into something more business friendly for Microsoft. It appears as the submitter was correctly confused. Score one for Microsoft.

I'm guessing the reason is quite simple...

[Kjella]

With TCPA, Microsoft needs to be in control of the whole boot process. Any form of "untrusted" boot manager like LILO or GRUB to allow users to dual boot with Windows would probably break that chain:

BIOS -> LILO/GRUB -> Windows = No TCPA

With their bootloader you can either go:
BIOS -> Windows Boot Manager -> Windows = TCPA
BIOS -> Windows Boot Manager -> Other = No TCPA

The rest is just marketing fluff so this solution is adopted.

The thing they're giving away...

[jginspace]

...according to TFA is: "its Virtual Hard Disk Image Format - new software that will allow computers running on rival products like Apple's OS X or Linux, its chief competitors in operating systems, to simultaneously run Windows" (that's a PITA to copy with IHT's javascript).

Don't get carried away. I think I read here last week that MS aren't going to allow Vista to run inside a virtual machine - am I correct? And there's Vista messing up the boot sector too. It looks like this is not a two-way street.

You just wait..

[Channard]

Forget AOL CDs, we'll end up getting free copies of Windows XP in every paper and publication ever. Which wouldn't be a bad thing, as the one thing putting me off trading my Mac Mini G4 in for an Intel Core one is that I'd need to buy a new £199 copy of Windows XP if I wanted to Dual Boot it.

RTFA

[Lxy]

I read the FA 3 times, and the most I could come up with is out of this paragraph:

Microsoft said it was relinquishing all license claims on its Virtual Hard Disk Image Format - new software that will allow computers running on rival products like Apple's OS X or Linux, its chief competitors in operating systems, to simultaneously run Windows.

So it's giving away or opening up its disk format for some kind of Virtual PC-like product. There's no mention in the article of exactly what this means. Sounds like they're competing with Xen or VMware ACE possibly. Nowhere does it mention a free OS, so I'm assuming that part or all of the virtualization will be free (speech or beer, not sure which) but you still get to pay for the OS on top.

Viewpoints

[Jack Pallance]

Point 1: Microsoft makes an incredibly restricitve license, then appeases organizations by "loosening" the artificial terms to get some deals done. It's like when a car salesman has a sale where all cars are 70% off, one day after they have marked UP all of the cars 80%.

Point 2: Microsoft would never do anything without knowing they will make more money off of the deal in the future. Nothing is free if you have to pay more for other products needed to make it work (See also: Microsoft AntiVirus)

Point 3: Microsoft can give away all of their software for free today. Of course, the day after the deal is done, the Product Activation may stop working. Then Microsoft can charge for the "Genuine Advantages"

a few differences

[Phantom of the Opera]

For one, VM Ware is really tight. The people who use VMWare are more technically oriented than the general browsing public. Netscape was big when it was attacked, but it was far from bug free.

Yes, they will try the triple E tactic. It is what they know. If they knew how to write good quality software and did that, this would be a different sort of competition.

Re:a few differences

[eMbry00s]

This isn't EEE. Here, they try to make people ignore other's products (by offering their own for free) long enough for the competitors to die off, whereafter they can ignore the issue content that they are the prime leader in that software field aswell - making them capable of leveraging their office and server software, which is where their money is at.

The EEE technique is about conforming to standards, and then extending their products to use those standards along with proprietary parts. Quench competition since they aren't allowed to use this patented technology, and then rule supreme again.

Different tactics, same anti-competitive bullshit.

Re:Interesting Decision

[dgatwood]

Their intentions seem pretty straightforward to me. It's not about running other operating systems so much as running other Windows operating systems, with other OSes being a side effect that doesn't cost them any additional effort (except the struggle to put aside their lust for dominance for a little while).

The reason Microsoft stated for buying Virtual PC was so that they could build an emulation environment that would allow them to bundle enough of the old versions of Windows so that they could basically scythe out vast swaths of legacy code from their OS. I suspect this is the intent behind this effort as well. Why bother supporting all those 16-bit apps when you can emulate them in a VM? That's doubly important if they ever plan to support 16-bit code in 64-bit WIndows (which they currently do not).

The software was already free

[PCM2]

Not only does VMware already give away VMware Server, but Microsoft Virtual Server is also already free. That's not the news.

This is a news story from an uninformed reporter who seems to be confusing software and standards. The announcement appears to be that Microsoft is "relinquishing all license claims on its Virtual Hard Disk Image Format." This, to me, sounds like less of an altruistic move than a competitive one -- because, of course, VMware's image format is already free.

Re:Interesting Decision

[KiloByte]

No, I would say it's nearly completely about controlling other OSes. How? Without allowing other OSes to run, any attempts to make TCPA mandatory would be instantly stopped by about every country. But now, they can provide VirtualPC for free, providing people with a way to run a free OS inside a sandbox fully controlled by Microsoft -- as they only way of using the new shiny hardware. And that's their master plan, full control over computing.

Re:Part left out?

[lowe0]

You know, at this point, it's pretty obvious that there are people who simply will never want Windows. You don't want to pay for it, you prefer Unix, you have an irrational hatred of Microsoft, you have a rational hatred of Microsoft, whatever the reason.

Given this fact, why would Microsoft care to find out why those people don't run Windows, or to ruin their non-Windows experience? It'd be a waste of money chasing people who will never buy your product. Why would they go to all that effort to spite and/or research people who stand no chance of ever becoming profitable customers?

MS cares about their customers and their potential customers. Paranoid ABMers don't fall into one of those two categories.

Hey, cool!

[benplaut]

Now I can run XP and Vista at the same time, thanks Microsoft!

So it's OK ...

[Original Replica]

... to give away software, just don't let them make cheap shoes.

Some altruism perhaps?

[TheFlyingGoat]

What would MS have to do to please all of you? In the past year they've adopted more open standards, turning on a software firewall by default, submitted their own open standards, released more software for free, and improved their security and standards compliance by focusing on those with Vista and IE7. Granted, each of these things wasn't done just to help the world... some of it was done to help Microsoft's market share and public perception. However, the end result is the same: MS seems to be getting more friendly toward OSS software.

Each thing they do is met with people saying they're JUST doing it to increase market share, or to trap customers into certain situations, or to extinguish competition. Hell, even the article about the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation donating TONS of money to good causes was met with people complaining about how Bill Gates made that money in the first place.

It's quite easy these days to purchase a computer without an operating system on it. It's just as easy to install non-MS software on a Windows system, setup a dual boot system, or set a non-MS program as the default handler for certain file types. It's been a while since I've seen a company go out of business because of Microsoft. In fact, many more companies are in business because Microsoft makes it relatively easy to program for their platform (look at all the crap software that's out there and tell me that it takes more than an idiot to make a Windows program). Lots of linux zealots say that they won't give MS the benefit of the doubt because of their past practices, but Microsoft's past practices now involve a couple of years of doing the right thing.

Sure, there's a few blemishes (genuine advantage, DRM) mixed in with that good stuff, but overall MS has been doing a decent job lately. Perhaps it's time you all try looking at it with a balanced outlook rather than immediately thinking the worst.

Re:Some altruism perhaps?

[JustNiz]

>> What would MS have to do to please all of you?

Err.. how about:
1) Allowing people to upgrade their PC hardware more than once before they have to re-buy Vista.
2) Take all the crappy DRM out of vista so we can play our own damn media
3) Get rid of the stupid Eula clause that says vista can only be used on a single screen.
4) Get rid of the stupid Eula clause that says vista can't be used in virtual machines
5) Not purposely outdate XP by making DirectX 10 vista-only

There's no such thing as altruism for Microsoft. Its all about making as much money as they can at any cost to the user. They always have and still continue to abuse the monopoly they have created.

Re:Some altruism perhaps?

[cyber-vandal]

Because:
(a) they're only doing it because of two very expensive legal actions against them by the governments of the US and the EU; and
(b) time and again they have shown that they can't be trusted; and
(c) habitual criminals don't tend to inspire trust.

Re:Some altruism perhaps?

[Tom]

What would MS have to do to please all of you?

Undo the damage they've done.

Well, that might be a bit much, even they can't pay that (that's the nature of monopoly rent - it's a net loss for the economy because the monopolists gain is smaller than everyone elses loss).

So, how about just going away and stopping to do more damage? That'd do for me.

Re:Some altruism perhaps?

[Xtifr]

> What would MS have to do to please all of you?

ALL of us? There's probably nothing they can do. IBM still has fervent detractors after two decades of trying to improve their image. However, I see little sign that MS is even trying. This, as others have noticed, is a fairly trivial thing they've done here, misreported, and quite possibly designed as an attack on VMWare, not a generous giveaway.

> Each thing they do is met with people saying they're JUST doing it to increase market share, or to trap customers into certain situation, or to extinguish competition.

Yes, and IBM still gets a lot of that too. And available evidence suggests that it's still sometimes true for IBM, and still usually true for MS. MS has proven, repeatedly, that they're willing to lie, cheat and steal to get what they want. And they've proven that they're willing to give stuff away solely for the purpose of undermining their competitors. The fact is that they've been utter rat-bastards for nearly three decades, and it only looks like they're changing if you squint funny and try to ignore a whole lot of stuff.

> It's been a while since I've seen a company go out of business because of Microsoft.

Then you haven't been looking very hard. Of course, they're going after some tougher nuts these days. Symantec and Google aren't going to simply fold up and blow away at the first adverse wind. And Nintendo and Sony have a lot of experience with tough compettion. But a lot of smaller A/V companies (just as a for-example) are dropping off the map.

> Microsoft's past practices now involve a couple of years of doing the right thing.

While I agree that there are signs they're trying to do better (amazing what a major investigation by the EU will do), their current practices still involve lots of questionable stuff. They've got a long way to go before you can even begin to pretend that the balance of their behavior is "the right thing". And even then, it's going to be a long time before they make up for the harm they've done, and even longer before some people are going to be willing to forgive and forget. Again, just ask IBM about that last.

You seem to think that any little not-wrong thing they do should be an enough to make us forget all the harm they've done in the past, and all the harm they appear to be continuing to do. Well, sorry, bub, we're not that stupid or gullible. Maybe it's time you took a more balanced outlook instead of immediately assuming the best!

Re:Some altruism perhaps?

[Aceticon]

The day the contracts between MS and the big PC manufacturers are such that PCs are priced without an OS and Windows is an extra option with it's own cost is the day MS will have done enough.

Until then they're just taking advantage of their monopoly position to screw us all up ... continuously - so don't expect most of us around here to give any big kudos for whatever small moves they take here and there to make the whole "get screwed my MS" process slightly less painfull ("Pull your pants down and prepare to take it again. Don't worry, this time you get a cookie").

Re:Some altruism perhaps?

[Monchanger]

The other replies bring up lots of reasons we technical people don't like Microsoft. I don't like having to fix other people's computers all the time due to the whole spyware/virus weakness of Windows. Nor do I like it when my rather well taken care of machine at work needs to be restarted for no good reason. No, Linux and its applications aren't bug free. Yes, there's plenty of crappy software in the OSS world. Thankfully, distros like Debian and Ubuntu get rid of a lot of them, so its less often that one finds software that doesn't work right. On these points and more, the Linux crowd is right to complain, and no "free software giveaway"s or donations to various causes is going to change that.

Me, I'd start off by asking for less lying and bullying, which seem to be almost uniquely Microsoft's in the software world:
* No more saying "we can't remove the browser from the OS", when they have more than adequate resources to rewrite vast parts of the operating system.
* No bullshiting the EU saying they'll create thousands and thousands of jobs by releasing a piece of software which isn't that monumentally different from the one already out there.
* No more using the "user error" excuse whenever a user complains.
* No more purchasing of false research saying Windows is "cheaper" than Linux. It's not always cheaper. Sometimes it will and part of the time it won't. I know it's "just marketing" to say that you're the "#1 product", but these false studies are well beyond reasonable marketing.
* No more pushing businesses out of the market by buying their competitors and dumping their product, by attaching it to Windows for free. Healthy competition, actual innovation, and acquiring other companies is fine. Abuing a monopoly isn't.
* No illegaly funding rediculous lawsuits against IBM for Linux.
* Since the big builders like Dell are not allowed to sell lower priced computers (and don't tell me they don't want to- Wallmart sure did when Linux became ready for its customers) by not having to pay for a Windows license. Hardware manufacturers have no trouble ignoring Linux because there's no financial incentive to spend the extra few bucks. It's all very convenient for Microsoft, but not for me.

On that last note, when my computer's power supply fails, I get "you need to have the original operating system installed" from my very large warranty provider. On the day I get a different answer, that will be the day when I'll start hating Microsoft.

Re:Giving away products a compatitor sells=dumping

[nietsch]

No it is not. If you read the article (which has nice but useless paging system btw), you would have read that the are givving up any licencing claims they had on ther virtual disk format. (Ignoring the fact that software licences are not enforcable in the EU anyway).
So they are not giving software away, but leave it to the other manufacturers to figure out a way to read these windoze virtual HD images. So where exactly is VM-ware (gives away vm products) or Xen (is free from the very beginning) getting hurt?

Seems Easy to Me

[Geccie]

The answer is simple - Control

Its easier for others to use M$ format than for M$ to implement anyone's format - for anything

If others try to implement M$ format, there will be some bugs - they will be behind the curve. Better for M$ to be "Innovating" out in front

M$ can verify the images to make sure you've licensed all virtual OS images because they control the machine and the data format. As they've given away the VM, why use a competitor's product? Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player - Any of those ring a bell? Media player is just a platform for DRM and control!

Do you REALLY expect M$ to PROPERLY disclose a file format or API - Get real - anyone remember their XML doc format -

Even if they do disclose the data format - Do you REALLY expect them to follow their own specs? The only images that will reliably work will be MS images

Now M$ can sell you HDD images tailored for your Specific requirements - no need for you to own those nasty installation CDs

Limit copyright of software

[Cracked Pottery]

I don't see why for certain kinds of software, that it would be unreasonable to permit the free use of older software. Microsoft's investment in any DOS version has been paid for many times over. I wouldn't be surprised that IBM would release OS/2 to open source if it could. The new operating systems, such as Vista, are driving the sales of bigger faster better hardware, but a lot of utility can be realized from used hardware and the copyright laws should encourage that by releasing legacy software, in at least binary form, for free use.

Re:Limit copyright of software

[kabz]

I'd imagine there's so much Windows code in there that this is just a non-starter.

IBM have a pretty good history of contributing to FOSS.

Re:old news, same stuff

[Ash-Fox]

Might be of use to you.

THis is standard Microsoft tactics...

[argent]

It took them a while to catch on - they were livid when Microsoft Basic got pirated - but giving software away or winking at piracy for a while whenever they're faced with a market they're not yet dominant in... that's been a terribly effective tool for most of the company's existence.

And pretending that it's a sacrifice and convincing people that free copies of Microsoft software is a reasonable settlement for lawsuits has worked very well for them.

Internet Explorer, for god's sake.

Why are people showing anything but disdain for this appallingly transparent bargaining chip?

Gentlemen start your copiers

[klubar]

Maybe it will have a built in virus that will infect other operating systems. Damn.... Apple already did this.