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Microsoft Cracking Open the Door To OSS
AlexGr sends us to a long piece in Redmond Magazine on Microsoft's changing relationship to open source. The article centers around a profile of Bill Hilf, Microsoft's internal and external evangelist for OSS. It's an even-handed piece that fully reflects the continuing deep skepticism in the community of Microsoft's motives and actions.
From http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/tnradio /bio/billhilf.mspx:
"Prior to joining Microsoft, Bill led IBM's Linux/Open Source Software technical strategy at a world-wide level for the Emerging and Competitive markets organization, in addition to his direct customer interaction as a senior enterprise architect. Bill has been involved with Open Source Software (OSS) for over twelve years, and is an IEEE Distinguished Visitor on the subject of OSS."
What have YOU done for OSS? You OSS zealots (particularly twitter) are doing more harm than good.
Hilf's background gives him a view of the business market related to OSS and how businesses approach it, touch and feel it etc. His job at Microsoft is not to help Microsoft become an OSS company or a supporter of OSS. His job is to inform them of how OSS is competing with them, how companies are 'feeling' about it, how well it is working in the field. All this information is most likely going to the MS Marketing Army, the MS Business Associate/Partnership Army, and to the MS Product Development Army and the task is to protect the MS Windows hold on the market.
Hilf crossed over the line. You just don't work for Microsoft and be any friend to OSS anymore. It's called being mutually exclusive.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
MS has obeyed the GPL for quite a long time now. The Unix for Windows services thingy contains GPLed code, and MS has always had the source available.
The harassment dished out to me personally is part of that.
No, that's because you make yourself an easy target. Posting long-winded rants using slang like "M$" and "Windoze" is a good way to do it. Grow up already.
>Provide references to someone from MS saying all of those as an official representative of his company or STFU.
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Ok, i'll bite.
Microsoft license calls the GPL "viral":
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-268889.html
Open source an intellectual property destroyer:
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-257001.html
Ballmer calls GPL a "cancer"
http://news.zdnet.co.uk/software/0,1000000121,209
Ballmer saying Linux infringes MS IP
http://linux.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/17
Search for the rest yourself, coward.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&c2coff=1&q=mic