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Hilf Claims Free Software Movement Dead
moe1975 writes to mention that Bill Hilf has taken a rather aggressive stance with regard to the status of the Free Software movement. With claims like; "The Free Software movement is dead. Linux doesn't exist in 2007. Even Linus has got a job today" it would certainly seem that the next offensive is going to be sponsored by denial. "For the desktop, Hilf sees a new frontier in terms of rich client programming. With more and more services by Amazon, Google, Yahoo and, of course, Microsoft being run as services rather than as software installed locally, it will be up to the desktop to provide richer functionality."
What a HILF.
How can that be? I thought 2007 was the year Linux kicks ass on the desktop!
Trolling is a art,
Thank you.
I though the headline read, "MILF Claims Free Software Movement Dead."
So that's why they don't call it Ubuntu Linux anymore. Oh wait...
Who the hell is Bill Hilf, and what kind of drugs is he smoking? He's obviously so far out of touch with reality that he must certainly be braindead.
I posted about this yesterday. Not a lot has changed.
TFA claims that just because IBM and Redhat are involved in free software development, the code is somehow less free. The fact is that anyone can fork off Redhat and give away or sell support for their own distribution. In fact, this is commonly done.
is like OJ saying he didn't do it.
Someone hates these cans.
The site this article is on is PHP, and last I checked PHP was still free. Someone should alert him that the free software running the site came back to life!
/ /www.bangkokpost.com
oh and the site is also running off of linux:
http://toolbar.netcraft.com/site_report?url=http:
Wow! And aren't the Japanese getting ready to migrate to this non-existant software ecosystem? How very philosophically Eastern of them! It's like some sort of crazy Zen thing!
random underscore blankspace at ya know hoo dot comedy.
So I guess you're out of a job then, Bill?
This article does not exist in 2007.
Move right along.
Windows Vista is a failure and proprietary office file formats are unacceptable for data interchange or archiving. Companies are switching to OSX and linux in droves, Microsoft is fucked and it'll take more than FUD from dickhead employees to turn back the tide.
FUD confusing open source with free software by unpaid programmers, making up windows server base numbers and referring to _AMP as "Visual Basic of open source" that pulled Linux along and what the programmers really want is to run their apps on Vista. Interoperability should only happen after a decade or so, because no one wants it anyway. A guy develops a 3d interface but can't figure out how that would work with Linux. Just FUD, nothing happening here folks, keep moving along.
LOL
This is Bill "Pay me and I'll say whatever you want" Hilf we're talking about here. The guy would say black is white and up was down if there was a buck in it.
-----
PGP Key ID 0xCB8FF658
First they ignore you,
then they ridicule you,
then they fight you,
then they ignore you again...
Probably just some schmuck trolling for Slashdot-generated ad-dollars again.
I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?
Hax-fu?
I'm after Cougar.
You might even say that the Free Software Movement is in its "Last Throes".
Will the death never end?
This person at InfoWorld thinks Microsoft must really be hurting for them to be saying these things.
Thanks, Slashdot, for the interpretation. Not sure I agree with it, but I'm really not quite sure what he's saying. It seems a bit of a ramble on standards and free software being commercial and various other stuff. Maybe there's a few cat anecdotes in the full transcript.
If Free Software and Linux is dead then why is Microsoft claiming that it violates 235 of their patents.
Who the hell is Bill Hilf and why should I care?
/.
Seriously. Someone give me a reason this isn't just the mass-media version of a GNAA/"BSD is dying" comment on
.sig: Now legally binding!
One of the points that Bill Hilf made in his interview on Channel9 is that Linux was "very different" from Windows. (He then added that either one, other, or both were "very different" from OSX.)
How true is this? I only ask because I have had some experience with MVS (the operating system which has no concept of "files" or "directories") and Tandem (whose weird features I can't remember enough to describe), and I would describe both of those as "very different" from UNIX or Windows.
When it comes down to it, UNIX and Windows look pretty similair to me. They both support WIMP GUIs. They both have concepts of files and directories. They both have users and groups and permissions. Micah hacks the computer system so Nathan can win. Peter controls the radiation power, and the ending is a cliffhanger into the next and final episode. They both have preemptive multitasking and multithreading.
The whole reason that Hilf stated that "Linux is very different from Windows" was part of the justification as to why Microsoft would not build applications for Windows (which was transparent and deceitful). If my belief is correct (that Linux is "similar enough" to Windows), then my opinion of Hilf falls through the floor. Am I correct that Linux is "similar enough" to Windows?
People aren't moving to online services. They're still moving to "free". Just happens it's online instead of locally installed. Woop-de-fucking-do.
No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!
Hilf (Milf? hehe) seems to be saying that the idea of a community-written and developed platform is dead and points out that much Linux development is done by companies like Red Hat, Novell, and SUSE. Hilf seems to be equating free software with community software, however, free software refers to freedom, more specifically, the relatively greater amount of it in "free" software. This doesn't make Hilf's statement any less of a biased propagandistic statement, but I feel that a slight clarification is necessary as nobody RTFAs.
On a last note, although the self-organizing and self-fixing quality of open source software is more or less a myth, several projects are headed by dedicated individuals. An example is cdrtools.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QDOS
But I think the gain of Linux has more to do with quality in comparison to MS/DOS and Windows.
If you mod this up, your slashdot background will turn into a beautiful sunset!
Bill Hilf is General Manager of Platform Strategy at Microsoft. This guy:o /bio/billhilf.mspx
0 8/08/1247220&tid=109&tid=11&tid=106
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/community/tnradi
Slashdot interviewed him about two years ago. The first question is possibly the best.
http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/
I spent like 5 minutes trying to figure out what the 'H' stood for, before reading the rest of the summary.
sic transit gloria mundi
Can we moderate this story "Troll" or "Flamebait"?
Ask him that, then see what he says.
You can go Hilf yourself, over the Gratis part.
Verdict? Obfuscation, misdirection and deliberate misinformation. Linux has ad a day job since he left University.
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
So, apparently, "Free Software" only exists if the people making it are unemployed?
Does this even begin to make sense?
Oh, wait, its from the "head of Microsoft's Linux Labs". Microsoft sayibng "Free Software is dead and Linux doesn't exist" isn't news, though I guess the fact that they've changed how they are saying it might be.
Having failed with the "Free Software is unreliable stuff put out by hippie slackers ideologues that have no idea how to make software usable in the real world" line, Microsoft is apparently now trying out a new line of FUD which doesn't even superficially make sense. "Big companies are involved in open source and people are getting paid, so, whatever the licensing terms say, its somehow not really free"?
So, wait..
"When I talk to open source developers, at least half are talking about Windows, from SugarCRM, MySQL, PHP. Every single one"
So which is it Bill? Half? Or Every single one?
"Even Linus has a job today?" He doesn't really know linus then! If you read his book, Just for Fun, you'll realize he's always had a job. He's just been doing what he's always wanted to do. You'll also learn in his book, people have been sending him money because of linux from the start. It was actually a problem because most of the time it was american money and finnish banks didn't like it :D, so much so, he asked people just to send him post-cards.
Why can't people earn money working on "free" software? I even have a job now working on free software because I like to do it, and people want to pay me for it! I think it's scary for him that licensing is dying and that is why he's promoting the online apps subscription model in the same interview.
Once again, why does anyone care what an employee of company says about a competitor?
It'd be news if he said something like "Hey, open source will eat our lunch."
If Hilf has a point it isn't a very sharp one and it is strategically poor for MS to adopt his mindset. There are no fewer hobby developers involved than there have been, and I'd not hesitate to guess that there may be more of them now than the pre-corporate Linux community offered. What I believe is misplaced is his insistence that FOSS is dead because of corporate contribution to FOSS. His argument is substantively the same as saying that because some companies contribute to charities for the poor that charity itself is dead. There are companies that actually hire people to direct charitable giving, heck even MS has Barbara Dingfield to direct their community affairs! They just don't get it. I really want to admire a company that has created more wealth than any in the history of the world but when they spout of crud like Hilf and the aforementioned 235 patents and do it without offering one single shred of evidence I just can't bring myself to do it. SC... errr Microsoft is just silly.
load "$",8,1
Linus has been employed for more than a decade with duties including maintaining Linux kernel development. In fact, Linus has had a Linux-related job longer than Hilf has worked for Microsoft. In the past decide, Linux doesn't seem to have lost much of its standing or popularity due to commercial participation, so it looks like that wasn't bad news.
[Scene: A room that looks like a giant shoe box made to look like a dollhouse or a diorama (remember those from elementary school?) This whole skit is shot in black and white and has the tone of a fifties school film both in music and acting style.]
[The philosophers sit and, and drink and stroke their beards until Bruce turns to Mark.]
Bruce: Free Software is dead.
Announcer V.O.: Yes. "Free Software is dead", cried Hilf. And the cry has been heard for years. But for each philosopher, there has been a cynic. [Scott and Kevin pop out of nowhere]
Kevin: No way!
Scott: Prove it!
Announcer V.O.: And that is where the argument has stalemated... until now!
[We see a man holding a small body. Two other men stand in the back.]
Man: Free Software IS dead. And here is the body to prove it.
[The cynics appear, their hair messed]
Kevin: You've just blown my mind!
Scott: Our minds have been blown!
[We see the philosophers, looking very smug]
[A doctor examines the body and nods sadly at the camera.]
Announcer V.O.: The world is shocked. First to find out Free Software did in fact exist and second to find out it is now dead.
(paraphrased of course, thx- kids in the hall)
Ice Cream has no bones.
His logic is absurd. Assuming these web apps are standards compliant, they are the death knell of Windows hegemony. The only question is whether Microsoft can somehow manage to make their apps only work (or at least only work fully) on IE/Windows.
What comes first, finding a teacher or becoming a student?
Why shouldn't it work now. Rinse and repeat as needed.
Nathan
How am I able to read this article? It is running LAMP.
Netcraft on bangkokpost.com
Even more strange, over 56% of the web must not exist either?
There term is called Grandstanding.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
These same commercial web services will benefit GNU/Linux.
At present I am an OS X user because I am willing to pay for the high quality, hassle-free user experience Apple provides.
But already 90%+ of my computer use outside of work is of web-based. So long as GNU/Linux continues to be - and continues to improve as - a viable platform for this content, I suspect a great number of users will continue to inch nearer to being able to use GNU/Linux as their primary (and sole) system.
I'd really like to see usage statistics for the general populace: percentage breakdowns of non-business related usage categories.
My guess: email, web browsing, multimedia, games, taxes.
I'm impressed, even the open source guys at Microsoft don't get open source. Last I heard, Hilf had done a lot to promote open source principles in Redmond. Either that was bullshit, or Ballmer finally noticed and is now stuffing FUD-filled press releases into Hilf's mouth for him to dutifully regurgitate.
There is no Linux, Inc. that employs the kernel developers. If he thinks OSS is all about Apache, MySQL, and PHP, then he is inconceivably myopic.
Anyone with a brain realizes that Windows is not the ecosystem, it is part of the ecosystem. About half, by Hilf's estimation.
People don't want ODF? Who lives in Norway, Aliens?
The rest of this article is just infuriatingly contrary to the real world. If Open Source is dead, then what is MS so afraid of?
I wonder what flawed logic Bill Hilf bases his prediction on? His baseless remarks, if anything, are indicative of the fear that must be pervasive in the Microsoft culture. Linux is not the moot point that Hilf claims it is nor are the BSDs. Mostly his statement is a FUD attack that is so desperate that it is laughable. As little as five years ago, statements like these were apt to be taken more seriously. Free/Open Source Software is here to stay. Once the Samba Project completes its version 4, Microsoft Windows Server becomes the moot point because active directory features will be freely available. If Microsoft allowed some of their arrogance to deflate a little, they would consider open sourcing the active directory protocols and claim victory over Samba. By open sourcing their protocols, they tap a large and freely available programmer base. Active Directory could concievably become so much better for markedly less in terms of development costs. Why not have the community develop for you? Red Hat does just that and is a very profitable company. Instead Bill Hilf et al. remain blind to the potential benefits and see open source as a "cancer." This just might be their own undoing.
I'll skip the usual Netcraft.com joke, and just say that the Bangkok Post, which is the linked host, itself runs on Linux, according to Netcraft.
to say that crap and he's paid to harm the open source market because it threatens the Microsoft Windows monopoly.
I hope this isn't new folks because Bill Hilf went to 'the dark side' the day he signed up with Microsoft because Microsoft's only* product is Microsoft Windows and must be protected at all costs.
*)Without Microsoft Windows, none of their other products matter. None.
LoB
"Anyone who stands out in the middle of a road looks like roadkill to me." --Linus
"We have driven the infidels from the nation...There are no enemy troops within the city...Our troops have reclaimed the airport."
Seriously, this guy is *literally* trying to claim that F/OSS is dead because it's succeeding.
Do you people really get worked up because of what one lone goofball says?
Am I the only one that read the headline and said "I know what a Milf is, wtf is a Hilf?"
That which is not dead may eternal lie,and in strange aeons even death may die
"God is dead." - F.Nietzsche "F.Nietzsche is dead" - God.
According to this, they are even hinting at suing their own customers for using Linux. Now that sounds desperate.
* Linux doesn't exist because it's actually everywhere, distributed by gigantic companies which make zillions of dollars off it.
.Net in the market (this makes me wonder if Hilf, back in high school, used to grumble that "the only reason Randy the Quarterback gets laid is because he has a Mustang...").
* The Open Source Movement doesn't exist because it's been adopted by companies both large and small, which are all merrily making a profit from it.
* Because Open Source is mostly commercial and very successful, making lots of money for the large and small companies that are involved in it, the only way to "grow the ecosystem" is to switch to the Microsoft products nobody wants to buy anymore.
* Linux is only popular because it's the foundation for the LAMP web-development stack, which has been trouncing
* Because Open Source Software runs on Windows too, all those Apache guys are probably running Windows.
* Standards are a communist plot started by those hippies at IBM because darnit, they just don't like Microsoft. It's not fair (hilf makes pouty face).
* WPF-E needs a better name so everybody will want to program in it. If WPF-E gets a cool name like Flash, everybody will use it immediately.
* Because Programming is Hard and that's Just Not Cool, Microsoft wants to make it like "turning a knob" so that developers don't have to work in high-paying jobs anymore, and can go find something new to do for minimum wage that'll probably be funner.
Did I miss anything? I swear reading his comments is like being hit with one Zen Koan after another, machine gun style. What is the sound of one hand clapping?
Phew. Too much, too much. I've gotta go do something fun for a while. Hmm...
Warhammer 40K! Death to the False Emperor! C'mere, you Eldar hussy, you...
NO CARRIER
I submitted a letter to the register that was quoted verbatim (with permission) on a story about piracy in BKK. Two days later it was copied in the database section of the Bangkok post, verbatim and unattributed. I've since noticed that most of their news is recycled from online sources like the reg and /..
The guys running that editorial are more interested in chasing down the red light shows than actually following whats happening in IT. Move along folks.
I've always considered Microsoft a dangerous beast. I mean, given their size and their success, they must have some really smart people there, no matter if their products are crap most of the time. Then this joker comes along and gives me that warm fuzzy feeling. Is this what they have to offer as head of their Linux Labs? Ah, we're safe.
"[Linux developers] are full-time employees, with 401K stock options. Some work for IBM or Oracle. What does that mean? It means that Linux doesn't exist any more in 2007. There is no free software movement. If someone says Linux is about Love, Peace and Harmony, I would tell them to do their research. There is no free software movement any more."
The guy clearly hasn't understood a thing. The power of Open Source lies not in volunteers working for free (although they have been extremely important), but rather in the GPL (and other free licenses) and open standards that are ensuring the users' freedom, protecting them from vendor lock in, and giving any developer the possibility to address any problem that can be described (by users or by themselves).
He can stick his so called innovation where the sun doesn't shine. Who wants new utilities, sci-fi-esque as they may be, unless they can control what they do?
May we live long and die out
you and you weirdos!! you cant see in the future so stop acting like you can. you get everyone all paranoid for nothing. besides all th sites you mentions "NEED A OS" to function. go with the flow and stop bitching. except technology or DESIGN YOUR OWN and stop preaching.
I make a point of paying no mind to insane claims.
It's not so much that in 2007, free software developers all of a sudden all got jobs, it's more that in 2007, Microsoft finally figures out that free software isn't being developed by out of work hippies.
Mr. Hilf, just keep going. At this pace, you might figure the free software movement out in, oh, perhaps by the time that your market share will have dropped into the low teens.
Saying "Linux doesn't exist anymore" is a strong statement.
And implying that "open source developers" have a "dirty little secret" is groundless and unnecessarily emotive.
I read into this that MS are worried. They are starting to see open source software as the serious threat that it has become to them.
Open source software has proven itself in the first years of the 21st century more than able to match closed source in terms of security and quality. Every day I am impressed by the countless free programs I use; Ubuntu, Firefox, VLC, VNC, GAIM, Kate, Krita, Ruby on Rails and yes, Mr Hilf, the LAMP stack.
And I sigh a little everytime I use Redmond's latest offering (which I have to keep on my laptop to use photshop and view youtube) and explorer dies or an IPC service fails, or it simply refuses to shut down, or Outlook crashes, or the sound is marred by pops and crackles because of the new improved audio subsystem.
If Microsoft with billions of dollars and thousands of dedicated programmers cannot improve upon Ubuntu, the product of - to use his words - a "small commercial firm" - I think it's pretty clear which software movement is dead.
It'll take perhaps 10 or 15 years, but the beginning of the end for Microsoft is on the horizon.
But please don't tell them.
apparently we are so far ahead that they can't even see us anymore...
The MAFIAA is a bunch of mindless jerks who will be the first up against the wall when the revolution comes
Yeah, this will really help my Mom, running over that dial-up line still to check her e-mail, browse a few web-pages, play some games, and do word processing. It will keep her off the street as the applications download.
"It's the height of ridiculousness to say for those 9 lines you get hundreds of millions."
... generally you'll do much better by submitting idiotic inflammatory statements from __________ (I can't even think o f anything to call him) who say, e.g.
"Hilf said that the Linux phenomenon had nothing to do with Linux, but rather it had a lot to do with Apache, MySQL and PHP. It was those applications which pulled Linux up with it, the "Visual Basic of open source.""
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
Just like we heard before that *BSD is dead. This "death" would explain the growth of the different Ubuntus. It also explains all of the entries in freshmeat and sourceforge. It explains the continued development of KDE, XFCE and Gnome. This guy must be the mouth piece of Ballmer.
Free Software Movement is and FSM that is dead? Well - this FSM is ALIVE
Web Sig: Eddy Currents
This one's even better:
... of half of them?
"That's the dirty little secret. When I talk to open source developers, at least half are talking about Windows, from SugarCRM, MySQL, PHP. Every single one,"
Every single one
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
I can't believe I've missed such a bastion of insightful, up to date tech news on my travels around the Web.
There are a small-but-growing number of so-called "pundits" who like to make outrageous, offensive statements in what appears to be purely an attempt to drive more (outraged) traffic to their sites, in order to sell ad-space. Several of the pro-SCO "journalists" appear to fall into this camp, for example. Many people, including me, make it a point to not visit any site which is reported to be spewing this sort of stupidity, simply to deny the author/troll the extra hits. This goes beyond the usual slashdotter's reluctance to RTFM, so thank you for answering the question, and no, I will not be reading the article, now or at any time in the forseeable future. (Even though it does seem less likely than usual that this is merely another page-hit-driven troll, I don't want to give this toad even the personal satisfaction of seeing another hit on his page counter.)
A one line version of the article: "Free software doesn't exist because it is now profitable"
Copyright infringement is "piracy" in the same way DRM is "consumer rape"
First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. -- Mahatma Gandhi.
We have now moved from the ignore phase to the ridicule phase. Fasten your seatbelts kids, its going to get bumpy.
None of them can see the clouds; The polished wings don't care.
Never head the name of that moron until today?
Who is he? A Microsoft employee?
OK, so programmers swarmed away from the fat client model after the DLL hell that ensued, and moved to software as a service...
And now, the natural progression is that the Desktop experience has to get richer because the software moved onto the server...
Wait, what?
Well looking here it seems like he's still able to carry on with his FOSS work. False alarm people.
As the Americans learned so painfully in Earth's final century,free flow of information is the only safeguard against...
The dude's a dork, who cares what he thinks?
OH FUCK! I'm using free software right now! Someone, find me a pirated copy of Vista, quick!
Lacking <sarcasm> tags,
Bill Hilf is dead. That is all.
-Rick
"Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
people ask where is the microsoft culture?
... BECAUSE THAT IS THEIR CULTURE.
people ask why microsoft doesn't have a rabid cultlike following like linux or mac?
people ask why everyone hates microsoft?
its right there, in that fine example of 'baffle them with bullshit'. nothing but marketing doublespeak and horseshit from an overpaid croney that would stab you in the back at the first opportunity.
obscure, lie and cheat at every chance possible. THIS is why everyone hates microsoft
it is a culture of lies, dishonesty and deception. broken products can be fixed, a broken culture cannot.
i only wish my response was out of pure emotion and visceral hatred but it's not. it's pure and simple empirical evidence.
THAT IS WHY we no longer purchase Microsoft products, not simply because we believe in freedom (as in free speech) we believe in not supporting the culture of venom that microsoft represents and practices.
little by little, meritocracy returns to the world, little by little the destruction of microsoft seems ever more iminent. every year we purchase more servers running linux (thanks IBM), every week we replace more windows desktops with Ubuntu desktops. every day we contribute a little bit more code or patches or hire coders to support a particular product (right now bacula is of interest to us). every day the CULTURE of open source grows, every day we see greater awareness and greater adoption.
oh dear mr. hilf, you are a liar. if only you were a simpleton but you are not. you are a practiced and well trained liar and BECAUSE you are not only EMPLOYED to decieve BUT HAVE NO MORAL COMPUNCTION TO DO SO we look forward to the day liars like you are no longer part of the ecosystem of software developers because all you do is poison the waters.
you see, today is a wonderful time to be in open source - you get to program to your ethical standards, you get to feed your family with it and more and more you get clients that UNDERSTAND freedom for what it is! who would of thought in 1990 that free software would be on millions of desktops and servers around the world, offering freedom and employment to those that want it to the degree that they want it? what a thought mr. hilf!
goddamn to ms and one day goodriddance. we cannot wait for the day.
The only thing more depressing than a high-profile corporate exec trotting out ye olde "we're serious businessmen; those linux guys are hippies" is that -- sigh -- it's going to work at least a little bit. I still run into people who think that free software "can't work" because it requires to be superhumanly selfless.
My turnips listen for the soft cry of your love
Unfortunately, Hilf has been kept where the mushrooms grow. Microsoft is dead. The sign posts are popping up all over. They are throwing a tantrum just like a baby by trying to use the scare and lie tactic. Open source is what the people want and that is why software company's are going. Autodesk, makers of AutoCAD is one example of this. The people are fed up with the crap MS puts out. What's with the 10 different WINblOWS austa la VISTA operating systems if it isn't about the money?
For one thing things are really moving to service-oriented operating systems and applications. I use Google docs and spreadsheets instead of OpenOffice, I use Flickr instead of iPhoto, I use Gmail instead of Kmail/Outlook/Mail.app. MS is moving to a cool new direction, I don't care what happens to the Desktop. Ubuntu is nice and all and will probably make great headway in that area. But it's a ho-hum dead-end anyway as far as my interest goes. I do all my work online (using whatever... sure Ubuntu/Gentoo then) and play my Games on Windows/Mac.
But one thing he is wrong about... is the model and principles around Free Software. I don't care if people get paid for it and if there are vested financial interests. As long as the intellectual property is free and it's free as in speech. I want to see real innovation and am happy MS is also forced into that direction by 'Free Software'.
And he looks silly!
These aren't the distributions you're looking for.
Registered Linux User #449434
... here's even more Bill Hilf bullshit:
0 8/08/1247220&tid=109&tid=11&tid=106
http://interviews.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/
sig has been sent away for a few small repairs...
Bill, Stop spreading FUD. It's not efficient. Why do you insist? From the halloween documents days, you acknowledged that FUD tactics can't stop open source. Why do you insist in making a fool out of yourself in the eyes of every decent person? You're worse than a politician.
Second
How did you come up with "67 percent of the world's servers run windows"? Bill, that environment of 2 windows servers and 1 linux box you play with at Microsoft doesn't make up for the whole world.
Third:
When I talk to open source developers, at least half are talking about Windows, from SugarCRM, MySQL, PHP. Every single one,"
Half of them or every single one? Make up your mind. Again, those 3,4 open source programmers don't make up for the whole community.
Fourth:
Patents man. You forgot to mention that you are truly worried that Linux users break microsoft's intelectual property. You made upper management unhappy here. Would you like a cut of 10% from your next salary or a chair?
We often refuse to accept an idea merely because the tone of voice in which it has been expressed is unsympathetic to us
Ironically Mr. "Microsoft platform strategy director" got his linux-is-dead propaganda posted on a linux* hosted server. Oops. (* assumption based on "ssh www.bangkokpost.com" being friendly)
First line is enough: "Linux doesn't exist in 2007. Even Linus has got a job today." Controversial statements from the head of Microsoft's Linux Labs...
Well there is why Linux breaks 235 patents... Someone in Microsoft must've put them in... Get out your Tin Foil Hat Linux!
What is the sound of a bluescreen crashing alone while everybody uses Linux instead ?
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Just ignore him and he will go away...
Nietzche once wrote,
"God is dead"
Then God replied
"Nietzche is dead"
And Nietzche died. i would say
Linux is not dead, it's on a Kernel Panic...
?
Uhm... hasn't he always had a job?
Sounds like this Hilf guy is trying to imply that Linux has lost so much momentum that Linus had to go out and get a job.
That's some of the biggest bullshitting I've ever heard.
1. Attack competing operating systems. 2. ??? 3. Profit!!
Yeah great: Everybody must become dependent on Microsoft and alike for both applications and data storage, so M$ft can suck more blood from its customers.
Microsoft is very, very afraid of Linux and OSS, so afraid that they are going to dump their software in development countries (to create new Windows junkies) and recently starting new FUD wars.
Vista is known to be a disaster and next quarter will show just that. Filling up the channel with a delayed product may show as increased sales and profits now, but next quarter M$ft will start its decline.
Misusing a monopoly by asking a price for its VISTA product that is at least FIVE times too high will end and M$ft will be forced to lower its prices just to be able to sell their crap in the near future.
Microsoft will also be forced to use public protocols and formats, and so have more difficulties to maintain their monopoly.
And, let us not forget the following: Bush did let M$ft off the hook (allegedly for cooperation in their phony war on terror as a spy tool), but the chance is slim that the GOP will get another term, and under a DEMOCRAT, M$ft can expect serious trouble in maintaining their illegal monopoly.
Bill Hilf is just having another wet dream.
Linux and OSS is not taken over by employees with 401K stock options. They are not the driving force, but just a work force adapting the existing software for their profit making (and often profiteering) companies.
When customers are more and more treated like cattle, they wil eventually revolt and break free if an alternative is available and more or less sufficient mature. Once application software developers (like Adobe) start understand just that and make their applications also available for Linux, Microsoft is totally lost.
Hilf has just taken some (not enough) lessons on spin from the other Bill, but I still have never found anyone that can beat Gates--in any industry. Take his anti-trust deposition for example--a performance to make your skin crawl!
...Free Software movement claims bill hilf is dead. say hello to nietzche for us.
free software, open standards, open file formats, no software patents.
Articles like this put slashdot up there in the 'digg.com' category of 'useless misinformation distribution' web sites, imho.
the only permanence in existence, is the impermanence of existence.
They copied Paul Graham's idea, just switching the words "Microsoft" and "Linux".
To an extent, I feel sorry for this Hilf guy: he must be above this, but some stupid big shot must have ordered him to parrot this.
Boy, do we need to get rid of these fools!
Or perhaps "insanity".
Who the hell is Bill Hilf, and what kind of drugs is he smoking? TFAs in the Bangkok Post, if that's any hint. Oh, Bill Hilf? Some kind of nutter I'd guess (if the quites are accurate).
... it just smells funny.
His comments show that Microsoft obviously still does not understand the FOSS movement. Microsoft lacks the framework to understand what it is about. Microsoft is all about putting competitors out of business, not delivering high-quality software. As such, Microsoft will never understand FOSS.
That Vista is selling like American flags in Baghdad.
Sure Linux is dead, if all you want to do is display cute icons and fiddle with your desktop... If you wanna actually use your computer, or many computers together... however, it's still the cheapest way to connect and build a compute farm... or automate a data network, etc... and licensing doesn't cost 100K a pop like Oracle... --Ray
http://www.beanleafpress.com
A customer enters a pet shop.
Mr. Hilf: 'Ello, I wish to complain about this Free Software parrot what I purchased not half an hour ago from this very boutique.
Owner: Oh yes, the, uh, the Finnish Blue...What's,uh...What's wrong with it?
Mr. Hilf: I'll tell you what's wrong with it, my lad. 'E's dead, that's what's wrong with it!
(Parrot squawks noisily and flaps about)
Owner: Looks fine to me.
Mr. Hilf: Look, matey, I know a dead parrot when I see one, and I'm looking at one right now.
(The parrot is attempting to move but seems to be having some trouble. It squawks loudly).
Owner: Are you sure he's not just pining for the fjords?
Mr. Hilf: PININ' for the FJORDS?!?!?!? What kind of talk is that?, look, why did he fall flat on his back the moment I got 'im home?
(Owner inspects parrot closely. Looks up incredulously, then takes another look before raising his head again)
Owner: It looks like someone nailed him there! Look. (Owner removes the nail, and the parrot flaps about)..
Mr. Hilf: Well, erm.... of course it was nailed there! If I hadn't nailed that bird down, it would have nuzzled up to those bars, bent 'em apart with its beak, and started eating into our market share!
Owner: I thought you said 'e was dead?
Mr. Hilf: Ermm....... 'E's passed on! This parrot is no more! He has ceased to be! 'E's expired and gone to meet 'is maker! 'E's a..... OOOOUCH! Little bastard bit my finger.
Owner: I'd say that clearly proves your Finnish Free Software parrot isn't dead.
Mr. Hilf: Well, can I stick a nail through its head just to be sure?
Owner: Get out of my shop before I call animal protection, you sick bastard!
Mr. Hilf: This is the worst bastardisation of a Monty Python sketch I've ever been in. I never wanted to be this creepy Microsoft shill you know... I wanted to be a lumberja...
Owner: Get out!
"Slashdot - News and Chat Sites Deviant". (Click "homepage" link above for details).
... concerns over the 235 patents of theirs they claim Linux infringes?
Or maybe they are pretending Linux doesn't exist today so tomorrow when they recognize that it does they can claim all of Linux is infringing their patents... ya know a prior art thing.
What does that even mean? I'm sorry, "intelligent" people make sense. Someone needs to run this guy's quotes through bullfighter to make sense out of them.
The part that's even funnier to me is that he is southeast Asia, which of course is the Windoze piracy capital of the world. What, would he rather everyone there use pwned copies of teh Windoze? And what's next on his agenda? Moscow? Nigeria?
blah blah blah
The man is bullshitting and we all know it. It's the exact opposite. After 3 years of Mac OS X, I've taken a night off today and upgraded my 3,5 year old Debian Woody System (mostly used as a server since my iBook purchase) to the brand new Kubuntu 7. I'm using it just now writing this post. I'm so over-f*cking-welmed that I'm actually considering to drop my next memory-pimped Mac Mini purchase I had planned and moving back to a price-performant Laptop Linux again. It's been by far my easiest OS install ever. Even the Tiger upgrade didn't go that smooth. I'm listening to a demo-track from the MagnaTune.com shop integrated into KDEs Amorok audio player as I'm writing this. The last Amorok I saw was pointless - now it's right up there with iTunes and yet better - and with more features.It has been for the last 3 years that a well configured KDE was easier and faster to use than OS X - it's now that it nearly needs no configuration (not with Kubuntu anyway) to kick every other setup I know up and down the street usability wise. Why anyone would even consider Vista after seeing this is totally beyond me.
It's this stuff that scares MS big time. Linux & OSS are continuously moving forward into MS territory and when they've reached the watershed of critical mass and the people get to notice the huge differences in quality and usability there will be no way to stop them and MS knows it. That's why it's spreading FUDaganda on OSS more and more often these days. This steaming heap of BS is no different.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
I have short stories and essays I created using Microsoft Word 10-15 years ago that I can't open with Word today. None of these used any fancier formatting than double spacing and varying font sizes. That is why standards are important. We can't apparently expect Microsoft to keep the formats backwards compatible, so it is up to us as consumers to seek standards that will ensure that the information we create today will be just as accessible tomorrow.
IANAL... But I play one on
I heard a similar story a while ago, about a guy in Spain who caused a lot of controversy for teaching men how to beat their wives so that they would have no signs of abuse...
"Listen, new M$ trainee, here's the deal, you monopolize, but back out when the feds are coming. Got it? Oh, and no pulling off moves that might give us bad publicity. Bring out the cushions now..."
Give Kashyyyk back to the Wookies
This article has everything. Microsoft coming to the realization, in 2007 mind you, that OMGWEB2.0!1!!1 is important, and somehow connecting that to the end of big fat Linux. Of course, this trend will have no effect on the sleek, lightweight, new paradigm, thinking-out-of the-box Vista.
Maybe the US patent office will issue Microsoft a patent on their new ideas about "rich client programming", and in 5 or 6 years the general public will believe that Microsoft "invented" something.
FAQs are evil.
Oh my god is dead!
Ditto to all of that! Also it seems that Bill has been spending too much time with his closed minded eerr I mean closed source buddies. It seems he forgot that Yahoo runs BSD and now according to reports a lot more GNU+Linux as well as most Internet sites. Google Maps for one requires that all content resellers run Red Hat Linux. Yeah FOSS is dead that makes sense to me.
Those that do not know, pay for it.
That is not dead which can eternal lie.
And with strange aeons even death may die.
I like how his post/article/blog doesnt allow feedback
But, of course, I kid.
If I mod you up, it doesn't necessarily mean I agree with what you've said, sorry.
Yet another crippling bombshell hit the beleaguered Hilfen community today when recently IDC confirmed that Bill Hilf accounts for less than a fraction of 0.000001 percent of all mindshare in the noosphere. Coming on the heels of the latest Netcraft survey which plainly states that Bill Hilf has lost even more mindshare, this news serves to reinforce what we've known all along. Bill Hilf is collapsing in complete disarray, as fittingly exemplified by falling dead the other day at CES.
You don't need to be a Gates to predict BIll Hilf's future. The handwriting is on the wall: Bill Hilf faces a bleak future. In fact, there won't be any future at all for BIll Hilf because BIll Hilf is dying. Things are looking very bad for Bill Hilf. As many of us are already aware, Bill Hilf continues to lose market share. Red ink flows like a river of blood. IBM is the most beleaguered of them all, having recently sold off its Bill Hilf business to China.
Netcraft confirms it ... Bill Hilf is dead.
Your mind tricks will not work on me young jedi, wraw haw haw haw!
-2B
Weird--I keep hearing this voice saying, "I'm not dead yet!"
Gifts for Geeks
BerliOS Statistics
Hosted Projects: 4,996
Registered Users: 31,434 'Nuff said.
I think he's talking about Web services (UDDI, SOAP, WSDL etc...) and not just simple web apps. What experience has taught one to expect Microsoft to do in situations like this is to ensure that their own development toolkits for developing web service clients are fully compatible only with services that are developed with Microsoft tools and systems and deployed on Microsoft platforms. The traditional way they have done this is by leveraging their dominant position to embrace, extend and eventually appropriate (or alternatively, destroy) standards and protocols like UDDI, SOAP, WSDL etc... When developing web services, especially if you are using automated "turn knob" development tools like the ones this dude talks about that don't require you to understand the underlying technologies, it's really easy to get into a situation where any Microsoft-only proprietary extensions to web service standards result in you creating a web service that's only 100% compatible with Microsoft's products. Furthermore, becasue you have no cule about how UDDI, SOAP, WSDL etc.. work, all you can say when a Java developer using JAXWS, Axis2 or XFire complans that these Microsoft-only proprietery extensions are giving him a migrane is: "Well... uh... that Sun/Java based crap you are using must be broken. It all works perfectly with
Only to idiots, are orders laws.
-- Henning von Tresckow
But never thought I'd get modded up.
Actually my plan B was a mock headline: "Open Source Hacker Claims Microsoft Dead."
Oh wait. We claim that every week...
you had me at #!
He makes it out like anyone who uses a linux os aspires to be some radical whose out to free the masses from the evils of capitalism (ok, so maybe there are some who fit that bill). I use various linux distros and I recommend open solutions to clients when I think it is the best option for getting a job done. I also want to make a buck (actually, lots of them). I don't find these these two things to be in conflict.
It's sad that Hilf has to resort to meaningless rhetoric in his attempt to ease his fear about the threat of competition. I would say, in fact, that linux is alive and growing for the very reasons that Hilf claims it's death. That people are making livings using an open model suggests to me that it is indeed a viable alternative to more traditional ways of competing in the industry.
When the patent story broke, the line was (paraphrasing),
...um. Yeah, that would be it.
"Microsoft says open source software is of high quality because they're using 200 of our patents."
[Head explodes.]
you had me at #!
This seemed like a strange non-sequitur to me, until I figured it out:
Hilf thinks that the "Free" in "Free Software" means zero price.
He must have figured that since Linus wasn't getting any income from "free (as in beer) software", he was forced to go out and get a job to make money.
That's the only possible way to make any sense out of his "job" comment.
His misunderstanding of what "Free" means clearly demonstrates that he doesn't even possess a rudimentary understanding of the FOSS community.
I think this is the first thread on /. where A) the term Free Software is used interchangebly with OSS and B) there aren't dozens of people correcting this. I've read a lot from Bill and seen him speak before, and from what I see he is *very* passionate about OSS.
There is no longer anything that can be done with computers that is nontrivial and clearly legal. -- Paul Phillips
Prediction: "*BSD Is Dead" turns into "Linux Is Dead"
That said, I think that *BSD might be the better operating system at the moment. I'm still not convinced of the merits of a monolithic kernel. Microkernels have worked very well for OS X, and even NT on the desktop and server levels. Even slashdot hosts itself on BSD.
Of course, what we (still) need is a good desktop UI environment. We've made so much progess in all the other areas, and absolutely none in this regard.
-- If you try to fail and succeed, which have you done? - Uli's moose
Speaking on the deck of the USS Microsoft monkey man said: "mission accomplished!"
--and I'm not talking about greed, which would make free software dead.
"Hilf accused his former employers, IBM, of starting a standards war simply because they wanted a part of the Office market. People do not want ODF (Open Document Format), but they want a way to control the information they create, he claimed."
He lied.
Ever since the early 90s when someone handed me a floppy disk with a document on it and said, "Do you have WordPerfect" [Word, or whatever it was].
"No."
"Well, you have to buy this program if you want to be able to read this document."
"That's stupid."
"You're out of touch, it's the way software works. You need to buy the program to read the documents."
Well, it's still stupid. I can't control my document if all I bought was Office 97 and people are handing me Office 2003 documents. It didn't have to be "odt", MS could have helped develop a better standard, but they chose not too. A private comany's product never has been, and never will be, a good choice for a standard format.
...who the hell is Bill Hilf?
If he'd have tried to argue that Vista is better than Linux or whatever he might have had a small chance to get the least technically knowledgeable people to believe him, but arguing that 'Linux is dead' just shouts that he's so badly-informed or so strongly biassed that no-one could take him seriously.
Indeed, that IS all.
Hile is a wonderful fornicating prevaricator of wet-dreams.
Unaccountable leaders are masters, and unrepresented people are slaves. How do US and EU fare?
Just because these technologies are supporting people who happen to use Windows doesn't mean that Linux is any less of a viable solution. In fact, I think it makes the FOSS movement that much stronger. It's not just on Linux, it's also on Windows, Unix, etc.
Bear with me, and don't hurt me. I am confused. Is Hilf referring to a difference between the Free software movement and the Open source movement?
Some kind of logic like: Linux itself as a "free software" is not nearly as important as the commercialized uses of Linux in products (that may be propriety)
Does anyone else notice that there is a distinct difference in what Hilf is saying when referencing "Open Source" and refering to "Free Software" and perhaps it is the contextual interview that is putting the pieces together in a way that sounds like he is dismissing it altogether?
My understanding of FSF vs OSI is not very clear. Again, don't hurt me. Especially those scary foaming at the mouth "Open Source or Die" folks gathering up on the horizon.
Hmm then what was CD pack that i just got from canotical in the mail Saturday? Or when i installed ESX a few days ago, i guess i was dreaming.
Besides, even if linux WAS dead, opensource is much larger then one single 'kernel'. You have all the applications, other OS's ( FreeBSD for example ), utilities, development lanugages/tools..
Or is this guy just an idiot?
---- Booth was a patriot ----
"There are a small-but-growing number of so-called "pundits" who like to make outrageous, offensive statements"
There has never been outage of so-called "pundits" who like to make outrageous, offensive statements.
It's only that every day that passes Cowboy Neal et al. are more shameless about moving to frontpage marketroid outrageous and nonsensical "news" to inflate their pockets through marketing income.
Nietzsche: God is Dead. Microsoft shill: Linux is dead
God: Nietzsche is dead. Major corporations, desktop users in the millions, governments: Windows is killing us, now they are dead
Too lazy to create a sig...
So if you profit from FOSS, it isn't "open source" anymore? If dozens of vendors are supporting and contributing to Linux, and thousands of people are making money off of it, Linux doesn't exist anymore? Microsoft really should stop hiring retards.
It must be over... How can the Linux world possibly stand a chance against the "I'm not listening!" argument?
-proidiot
Hilf said that the Linux phenomenon had nothing to do with Linux, but rather it had a lot to do with Apache, MySQL and PHP. It was those applications which pulled Linux up with it, the "Visual Basic of open source." - Ok which one of these dont also run on Windows, OS X and the BSDs?
"That's the dirty little secret. When I talk to open source developers, at least half are talking about Windows, from SugarCRM, MySQL, PHP. Every single one," he said. - Im pretty sure every single one is more than 50% and if Microsoft didnt embrace and extend everything that touched their OS it would probably be more than 50% - and they do it because these developers are often practical, pragmatic and really concerned with delivering solutions to admins and end-users, of course they are talking Windows.
"Standards is the first thing you go to in the competitive strategy playbook. Of course, IBM and Sun won't say that on the record. You create a problem that didn't exist and use standards to force a problem," he said. - Well then lets just throw the Windows standards for drivers, apps and the like out the window (no pun intended) shall we? Oh wait - you wont deliver products or certify them if they dont meet your standards. Who is this joker and do they really pay him to say this?
I was crazy back when being crazy really meant something. (Charles Manson)
Web 2.0 is great for collaboration. It's great when you want to share data.
I have a lot of data that I don't want to share.
I'm never going to replace my local computer with a "web desktop" unless it's incredibly secure and requires that my personal physical key is inserted into whatever access terminal I'm using.
But I'm fine if Microsoft and Yahoo and Google want to try to pursue that route - go ahead and waste money and pretend Linux doesn't exist, and I'll keep working with my free operating system and making it better than your privacy-violating nonsensical "all your data belong to us" strategy.
then why doesn't MS just sack Hilf. Obviously he's unneeded now.
"linux is just DOS with a UNIX like syntax" -- Galactic Dominator (944134)
I was thinking that it was going to take a little while for the proprietary software silos to collapse under their own contradictions and costs but it looks like the patent decision by the Supreme Court is making it less tenable to sustain software as a business without actually making it useful or serviceable.
Sun has changed its approach and is innovating and opening up and becoming service oriented.
Microsoft, not so much.
The end for proprietary software may come faster than we imagined.
Who The Fuck is Bill Hilf and why do we care what he says?
.NET developer by day and I've never heard this guys name until now.
Hell, I'm even an MSDN card carrying
Who cares...
Be sure to post your comments on Bill Hilf's blog here.
If you believe in the software, it does not exist. If you do not believe, then it does exist.
Qoute from the article...
9 291
"They are full-time employees, with 401K stock options. Some work for IBM or Oracle. What does that mean? It means that Linux doesn't exist any more in 2007. There is no free software movement. If someone says Linux is about Love, Peace and Harmony, I would tell them to do their research. There is no free software movement any more. There is big commercial [firms]"
apparently he didnt read about this dude (the webcam driver guy - recent slashdot post)
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=3
There are firms, there are unpaid hackers, there are Summer of Code students - Linux and Free Software are Booming in 2007 !
I can't believe the Bangkok Post actually printed this.
He obviously doesn't understand what Free Software is all about. It's about freedom, not saving money. Getting it for free is just a fringe benefit.
Even if by some miracle people do want "Software as a Service," is Bill Hilf not intelligent enough to see that there will be the open-source equivalent of "Software as a Service?" Does he not see that it will probably be available without a fee? Most Americans have a problem seeing how anything gets done without there being some cash flow. It's sad really. They see everything through material eyes.
Has anybody else notice that MS Windows zealots always have a smug look on their face? It's like they really believe what they say! Ignorance, pure ignorance.
Well, it's a Microsoft statement. I can see that being a statement that will make their new "partner" Novell very happy. Thespian, happy now?
I've worked with Open Source, Free Software, freeware, shareware as well as proprietary for as long as I've been using computers.
They all have their place, rule #1 is that It Has To Work For Me. From a risk management point of view Anything But Microsoft seems to become more and more THE rule to prevent slow recovery and exposure to malware, not to mention the improved costs basis..
Panic, methinks..
Insert
... we can see you, and it's not going to do Linux any bad or you any good all this way-too-ridicolous FUD.
I'm not much of a linux evangelist (i prefer XP as my OS of choice...but then my linux experience is next to nil and I don't have a spare machine to learn on), but I heard this exact thing in interviews with two Microsoft shops where I had applied for employment. "Linux is dying. Linux will be dead. We don't offer it to our customers because you can't buy support for it."
It was all garbage, and I had a hard time not laughing during the interviews.
My Sysadmin Blog
"People aren't moving to online services. They're still moving to "free". Just happens it's online instead of locally installed. Woop-de-fucking-do."
Good thing the GPLv3 was ammended so Google could continue to offer web services.
Parrot (the free software) does seem to be dead... Wasn't it supposed to be the vm capable of running Python and Perl bytecode?
LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
I just misread it as "Bill... who?"
Microsoft is dead too: http://www.paulgraham.com/microsoft.html
Boy, this year is getting really interesting. Maybe OS X or BSD is next to die?
I'm getting tired of worthless stories getting approved by whatever monkey is editing for this site.
Just because he makes arrogant claims that no one believes, doesn't mean you need to repeat this crap. No one believes him, no one cares what he says.
You are spreading it around by posting the story here, Stop It.
Ahahahaa, you made my day you did, thank you!
At least partly. The fantasy that many people, both in the popular press and here on /., suffer under, namely that free software is developed by a bunch of unpaid amateurs, is no longer true, and probably never was. Apparently Hilf believes it once was true.
Of course, there are probably more students and amateurs working on free software as ever before, but the large impact free software project is mainly being developed by full time professionals.
Free software has become a mean of collaboration between commercial entities, still with some participation from students and hobbyists.
Interestingly, the GPL -- so often accused of being anti-commercial -- has been a great enabler of the commercial involvement. It creates a level playing field by making it difficult for any one player to keep their own improvement away from the others. While such proprietary branches are often fine with the hobbyists and students, they are devastating for the remaining commercial players. An example is WINE, which went from a BSD'ish license to LGPL, when one commercial WINE developer decided to keep their improvement proprietary. This was of course totally unacceptable to the remaining companies based on the WINE code, hence the license change and resulting code fork.
I guess this is just a part of the offensive the M$ has been running lately against FOSS. Maybe Hilf had directives from higher places to put his name behind TFA. I can't see how a FOSS expert would stand behind these naïve claims (apart from being a sold-out).
The only reason that I see why would this article surface right now, is to divert the focus of community and customers on the 235 patents. The PR strategists of M$ surely hit the bullsballs with this one, not the bullseye.
aw, c'mon...
LOL that is funny as hell!!! When will microsoft get sued for slander by stallman? Software patents are bullshit!!!
Microsoft just can't stand it can they? Patents by them copied by linux? Why so linux will suck ass? Who is this Hilf joker? Fee software dead? LOL There are 1,000s of free software projects all over the place. When will the supreme court rule that software patents are BS? Redhat centos oracle linux who needs em? archlinux etc. or freebsd etc. and bam ready to go. What is needed is more people who can program working apps.
Well, I'll be smacked for this, but I don't believe Linux is dead unless Netcraft confirms it :)
I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I can think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.
I know you made a type there :) I myself have no sense of English language, and I somehow am able to do it... but "Gadhi" in Hindi means female Equus asinus.
Free software dead?? I didn't pay for this version of windows...
Neglecting an enemy is a well proving strategy *that does not work*, but maybe he only pretends? Sounds exactly like the strategy of a former Iraqi Information Minister, and look how that went.
If MS really want to neglect (it's most potent?) enemy, let them do just that. Fine by me!
The sooner I can exchange Win XP and the even worse Vista, the better.
"Sun revolves around earth"
"World sits on top of a tortoise"
"Earth is flat"
"John F Kennedy is alive"
"Elvis is alive"
"Marilyn Monroe lives with Elvis in Guatemala"
Read radical news here
is how he attempts to underhandedly (by using a straw man - how pathetic) equate FOSS to the old hippie movement by saying that "If someone says Linux is about Love, Peace and Harmony, I would tell them to do their research." (as if FOSS ever HAD BEEN about "Love, Peace and Harmony" in the first place) in an attempt to place that impression (that of a movement which many believe failed in its goals) on the minds of those susceptible to emotional-message-is-enough-no-effort-at-thought tactics (most business types, whom MSFT targets as potential clients) . . . this leads me to conclude that he is being trained and coached within MSFT as - judging from the writing on his blog - he is most certainly not smart enough to concoct FUD of that magnitude on his own. Evidence of MSFTs desperation.
I find it interesting that he would make these statements in Asia. This is apparently a desperate grasping-at-straws attempt by MSFT to turn the tide, so to speak, in the Asian market, because I doubt that they thought this would not travel the planet, or that they were using Asia as an FUD testbed. Further evidence of MSFT's desperation.
I think it is likely that they will now attempt to accuse the journalist of misquoting Mr. Hilf, who should - by the way - be remembered for saying these things, after the long FUD campaign fails and MSFT spits him out.
This all makes me very happy. Fuck MSFT and all they stand for.
SARAVA!
Is this a journalists technique they teach at college?
Maybe in 'how to write controversial articles 101'?
Take anything popular and write that "it's dead" and you've got instant front page stuff?
-- Programming with boost is like building a house with lego. It's a cool but I wouldn't want to live in it
most of the comments posted so far are stupid, at best /.ers who can't see the forest for the trees.
like all the comments about "half the programmers....every single one" clearly, he meant every one of the half; his grammar may not be the best, but calling him on it is nitpicking at best - typ[ical
HIs basic point is pretty clear: most of "open source" is funded by companies, not by people working for free.
Now you can argue if this is correct, but to distort his argument is stupid.
... and you should be, too. I read the fine article. This person does not sound honorable. He uses a number of tactics that I would not want an ally to use.
..." and then misquotes the EU. He isn't willing to let the EU speak for itself, because the argument would be more like "EU: You're abusing your monopoly status. MS: We're not a monopoly, we don't understand what you want, our hands are tied, shut up."
He says "The EU says:
He says Linux is dead, but he's the head of "Linux Labs." It's like when a president is opposed to an agency, he puts someone who wants to dismantle it in charge. Intrinsically dishonorable.
He says (Linux is alive) = (Nobody has a job), (Linux is dead) = (People have jobs), indicating that only he can define whether Linux is alive or dead. No amount of Linux activity can define Linux as alive, since all we have to do is look at whether people have jobs to see that it's dead.
He says (half / all) developers care more about apps than where they run. The point to this sentence is that the inconsistency in numbering is intentional. A dishonorable man would want to divert attention from some real issue about the listed apps (MySQL, etc.) arising on a not-Windows OS. Instead, reframe the argument so it's about some goofy irrelevancy. (A certain US president has succeeded at this.)
He claims that a Ph.D. in optical science can make a 3D Minority Report interface for Windows, but not for Linux. Actually, I have spoken to many at Microsoft Research who say that they were left alone by Microsoft when they arrived, but are now pressured to make only contributions that can be folded into Windows. So the reason Linux can't have the 3D interface could be simply the stifling atmosphere at Microsoft, not some technical problem with Linux.
He refers to the "Office market." Actually, Office is a product, not a market. There was an office apps market, but now there's just a monopoly. It would be more honest to say that others are trying to resist a monopoly, but the dishonorable man simply wants to win, not say "we have a monopoly based on controlling the file formats and we'd like to keep it."
All this talk of software as a service being the future is really depressing. It's just a dumb idea for so many reasons, like:
1) Bandwidth limitations for the average Internet user.
2) Internet outages.
3) Software as a service will end up being sold to you with a monthly/yearly subscription fee instead of a one time payment - this will balloon really quickly = $$$.
4) Single point of failure.
5) You have to trust a company with your data and with providing the software you need reliably and without changing it out from under you.
6) Forced version upgrades (can you imagine if all WinXP users were automatically upgraded to Vista with no say in the matter?
7) Not everyone has Internet or has access to the Internet. What if I take my laptop on the road?
8) If your OS is an online service... then the vendor can lock out other programs they don't want you to run. You won't be able to work around this.
9) Your ISP can charge you more since you now NEED Internet so much more.
10) Did I mention privacy? Because no big IT company has ever had data stolen... ha.
I started using the google desktop widgets thing and it started automatically scanning and indexing my computer. I thought that was a good idea for about 2 seconds then un-installed it really quick. It's going to be much more lucrative to be a hacker in the future. You thought having your credit card data stolen really sucks... try having your entire hard drive, plus records of every action you ever did on your computer and every file you had in the past. Sheesh. I can only pray that this concept doesn't fly. GoogleDocs is bad enough - what a stupid idea- at least for any documents that have any value at all.
Yeah, I'm one person rooting against desktop software going online.
This is Linux anti-marketing by a classic Microsoft tactic
of feeding and creating confusion about any functionality that
they can't compete with. In this case
they are cultivating the confusion about the meaning of free software.
With articles like this Microsoft takes control of the dictionary and
changes the discussion to something self serving and otherwise
irrelevant.
Confusing the use of names and concepts and capturing common
words as a deliberate marketing strategy runs deep at Microsoft. The most basic
example is using the word "windows" as a proprietary product name.
A more involved effort is the effort to destroy the distinction
between file formats, applications, and operating systems.
This generates marketing FUD in that many people
feel that in order to be able to work with
others they have to use Microsoft applicaitons on Microsoft machines.
I sent Bill Hilf email asking what this was all about as I know him from a previous job. He said a lot of these statements were taken out of context. You can all flame him as it's the easier thing to do, but I have a lot of respect for the work he does. You may also want to think about what Microsoft was like before he joined as it relates to open source.
are we wasting time on this Minion of Microsoft. If OS/Linux is dead, why is M$ saber-rattling (or, should I say, patent rattling)?
Typical M$ FUD. Nothing to see. Move along, citizen.
"If god did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him" --Voltaire
Generally when someone goes about telling *you* what your problems and intentions are, he is in some scence engaged in what the Freudians call a sever case of projection. So lets take a look at some of Hilfs utterances.
'If someone says Linux is about Love, Peace and Harmony, I would tell them to do their research. There is no free software movement any more'
Just who exactly in Open Source are you referring to to here. Who is this 'someone' who says this. All you are doing here is invoking the strawman. The last resort of the Usenet troll. Shame on you Mr. Hilf. An insulting and total distorting of the situation. Linux/Open Source is about collaboration and not being controlled by any one company.
That you have to invoke some distorted hippy fud here tell us more about you than Open Source or the people involved in it. As someone who has personally met some of the leading developers in Open Source I can categorically state that I never once seen anyone wearing Jesus sandles or beads. Maybe you are confusing us with some of billgs retreats.
"People ask me, why are you doing this? Why did you do the Novell deal? Why aren't you doing Office on Linux? The summary is quite simple. Growth of the ecosystem equals growth of the [Windows] platform"
Here's a question, why are you using the Novell deal to extort money out of the Open Source community. The real reason you don't do Office on Linux is that your whole monopoly would collapse. Ain't that so.
"When I talk to open source developers, at least half are talking about Windows, from SugarCRM, MySQL, PHP. Every single one"
Keep desperatly talking about Open Source on Windows. What developers and can we have their names? Which half of every single one is 'talking about Windows'. And Bill, you being highely 'technical' what is the point of running LAMP on Windows?
'there's this complex balance between innovation and standardisation. I think the EU has been learning'
Here we have a presumably fine one time Open Source advocate reduced to shilling for the Microsoft organization. In short nothing but an intellectual prostitute. The EU issue is about MS polluting the protocols in order to shut out Open Source. As one of your researchers once put it by extending these protocols you can deny OSS projects entry into the market.
'People do not want ODF (Open Document Format), but they want a way to control the information they create'
Yet again we have MS chief FUD architect telling us what we want. What people don't want ODF and can we have their names? If MS was really innovati~1 why do you need to control the formats and protocols and threaten people with litigation if they don't use your product~1.
"Standards is the first thing you go to in the competitive strategy playbook"
I've noticed a curious thing in other utterances out of Redmond. Whilst accusing others of doing something nefarious they are in actuality projecting their own twisted strategies and prejudices onto the other fella. I suppose only in the distorted and rarefied athmosphere of the Linux Lab could you come up with twisting standards as a legitimate strategy to compete. Meaning making our stuff not work with the other fellas.
Now considering what MS is actually doing rather than saying what do you suppose MS real strategy is in relation to 'standards'? In this case MS is indeed going about subverting standards to leverage its own proprietary product. So the above sentence should be rewritten as 'subverting standards is the first thing you go to in the competitive strategy playbook'.
'Today, Microsoft seems to be nibbling away at the same market as Flash through Vista's Windows Presentation Format-Extended (WPF-E). Hilf said that was defnitely not anti-competitive and it was simply compet
davecb5620@gmail.com
1. Make ridiculous claim that will outrage the target audience. For IT: "Bill Gates declared sex god." "Natalie Portman declared 'not hot.'" "International Federation of Scientists declares Linux the OS for 'fags'"
2. Watch traffic increase from the inevitable flamewar, generating lots of impressions for the ads
3. Profit!
Where's my money?
Kwisatz Haderach
Sell the spice to CHOAM
This Mahdi took Shaddam's Throne
I guess they figured that the "God is dead" campaign was such a massive success... same old same old... If wishes were wings, we'd be flying, Bill.
Jedis are stupid. If they were so powerful, why couldn't they handle counseling for a kid who missed his mom?
The point about people wanting to integrate w/ Windows has some merit. He was talking about Open Source software wanting to get onto the Windows platform. If they want it to run on the largest possible user base then yes, those developers need to have a Windows version. I love Konqueror and I use it at home, but I can't get it on Windows at work. That greatly limits the number of systems I can run it on.
.NET for work, but do some Perl and PHP for myself. It's true that the P* languages can scale and are usable at the enterprise level, but there's no way you can compare an interpreted scripting language like Perl to .NET. .NET is a mature architecture I can develop against using different languages whereas Perl is a flexible language w/o being part of a whole architecture. Granted, Perl integrates well with Linux and is strongly suited to that task, but it is not part of an ecosystem the way you'd combine the .NET libraries w/ C# w/ the Windows OS. As a developer, I'd like to have the entire ecosystem integrated so there's more standardization and control.
.NET, but I wish I could do it on the Linux OS. Figure that one out and you can be rich.
I don't think that precludes developers from developing on Linux, it just means that some of them want to integrate with Windows. This is partly because Microsoft develops closed platforms that make it difficult. MS won't integrate with Linux, so Linux has to integrate with MS (for those that want it).
As for calling PHP and Perl the "Visual Basic" of Linux, I think there's some merit. I write mainly in
Like a lot of people, I love to work in Visual Studio and develop in C# using
1. Firefox
2. The Gimp
3. Pidgin
4. Ubuntu
5. Thunderbird
6. Wine
7. Summer of Code
8. Open Office
9. UbuntuStudio
10. KDE, Gnome
11. Beryl/Compiz
12. 7zip
13. Sourceforge
14. Linux
15. OpenMoko
FOSS is definitely dead and dying. I can't see anything on that list that would disprove that. LOL
Idiots.
I hold very few opinions. I hold information based on observation and fact. If you wish to disagree, please use facts.
Them's fightin' words! *goes to grab pitchfork, torch*
Free Software Movement Claims Hilf Dead
Let's call it a tie. ;-)
I do believe the parrot in question was actually the Finnish Red.