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Microsoft's Annual Report Reveals OSS Mistakes

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the or-ignorance-possibly-willful dept.

mjasay writes "Microsoft's most recent annual report suggests that the company is increasingly coming to grips with open source, yet also seems determined to perpetuate myths about open source that poorly serve it and its shareholders. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has suggested before that 'free software means no free soda' for Microsoft employees; but this is perhaps the first time that Microsoft has managed to enshrine its ignorance in a public document. In the annual report, Microsoft makes two primary false claims about open source: 1) Open source companies don't invest in research and development and instead largely free-ride on Microsoft's patents and copyrights; and 2) Open source projects don't innovate and instead mimic Microsoft's products. Perhaps Microsoft has forgotten its own 'innovative' past copying of markets and technologies created by Apple and others. But at least Microsoft gets one thing right: 'To the extent open source software gains increasing market acceptance, our sales, revenue and operating margins may decline.'"

6 of 348 comments (clear)

  1. No mention of free software by Statecraftsman · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    10 mentions of "open source" vs 0 mentions of "free software". Discuss.

  2. Re:Vista is actually pretty cool. by abakus · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I agree. I just installed vista 64 on my machine and instantly realized that I do not want to use Xp32 anymore. Every game runs smoothly. I can now make use of 8 gig of memory. Cygwin and X11 still works. No compatibility issues so far. MS produces, and the Windows environment dedicates to create user frendly products, no wonder some geeky guys dislike it because it makes them failed to distinguish from common users. But in the long run I seriously believe MS actually benifits mankind.

  3. Re:News? by Acapulco · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    So there's gonna be a THIRD term!?!? OMG please no.

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    Slashdot. Unreadable news to annoy nerds. - wonkey_monkey
  4. Re:News? by remmelt · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Enough people voted for him to be considered.

  5. Re:Another sockpupet exposed by init100 · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    May I ask you, how do you know that some account is a sock-puppet for someone else? Oh, that's right, you don't. You may believe so, but how could you know?

    In short: Evidence please!

  6. Re:News? by RulerOf · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Windows running for 3 months without a reboot and users think that's quality.

    Sigh... I've got plenty of Windows servers in production that have yet to experience unplanned downtime since Day 1. No "scheduled reboots" or anything. I've got Windows desktops which could claim the same, but it's been a while for those because quite frankly, it's a waste of electricity to leave unused clients powered on.

    I've set up Linux servers (just for personal use) which could claim the same.

    My point is that uptime on a desktop generally has a hell of a lot less to do with the OS than it does the user or the hardware the OS is running on.

    ....so wages the everlasting Windows/Linux flame war :P

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    Boot Windows, Linux, and ESX over the network for free.