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Sam Ramji, Microsoft's Open Source Guru, Is Moving On
barking_at_airplanes writes "Some called him crazy a few years ago when he joined Microsoft to run the Open Source Software Lab, but Sam Ramji endured and made real differences to how Microsoft treats open source and how open source people view Microsoft. Ramji is now heading back to Silicon Valley to join a cloud computing startup. Sam comments in his announcement: '46 months later, I am amazed at the changes that have occurred for the company, for the team I belonged to, and the sentiments of the industry.' It's a statement which, 46 months ago, few Slashdotters would have thought could come true! With Sam leaving, can Microsoft's positive momentum into open source continue successfully? Bill Hilf says they're 'actively seeking someone to fill Sam's shoes.'"
Hire Stallman!
Microsoft has announced Microsoft CodePlex, its new Open Source foundation.
"We want to be more responsive to your needs," said Sam Ramji of Microsoft during a Linux Foundation Collaboration Summit panel this week as he wiped rotten tomatoes off his suit.
"We want all open source innovation to happen on Windows. In practice, Windows is too slow, and just putting Linux underneath the same software stack triples performance. So we're running the Windows versions of the software on Linux using Wine. We'll also be funding the Wine on Windows initiative."
The new Microsoft Amazingly Open And Genuine Public License allows you complete freedom to use, modify and redistribute the software provided that every copy comes with a DVD of Windows Vista Ultimate, you acknowledge that Microsoft's FAT patent protects a remarkable and valuable innovation in computer science and all accompanying documentation is in OOXML. Also, all your data belongs to Microsoft.
The overwhelming dominance of Microsoft was assured, he said, pointing to their success in paying netbook manufacturers to use Windows XP and paying US retailers not to stock the Linux versions of the computers. "We're also enforcing our patent on right-clicking. And on the number seven." Ramji reassured journalists of his absolute faith in the power of Microsoft's vision, just before quitting to work somewhere -- anywhere -- else.
http://rocknerd.co.uk
This is the first I've heard of him. If I had heard of him before now, I sure as hell didn't remember him.
"Success", "open source" and "Microsoft" can only come together in one way: the release of ALL of Microsoft's source code under the BSD or MIT licenses. We're talking .NET, Windows, Internet Explorer, Office, SQL Server, and all of their lesser-known business software.
That clearly hasn't happened, so there hasn't been any success here.
[Citation needed]
[1-999]
How are they less evil? All they have done is simply went from ignoring OSS to attempting to embrace and extend it.
They've made patent pledges not to sue, allowing others to use their patented technologies for free. Old Microsoft would never have done that.
The IE team has worked to better respect web standards. The IE team even sends open encouragement to Firefox, saying they welcome innovation and competition. I read an interview with an IE developer who said his daughter accused him of breaking the internet. Since IE 6, the IE devs have made several positive strides for far more compliant rendering.
Microsoft is assisting the Mono developers, but again Mono owns all copyright on all the code, and the code is GPL. Microsoft is also assisting the same developers with Moonlight.
When you load IE, it prompts you to choose a search engine. Firefox and other browsers simply give you a default with no choice.
Microsoft has released a boat-load of technical documentation, enabling the Samba devs to reach 100% feature parity for better interoperability.
Microsoft just released GPL code directly for the first time. It was Hyper-V drivers for Linux, which is self-serving, but it does benefit interoperability. It is possible in joint ventures like these to have a win-win. I'm fine with that.
There are plenty of examples like this. It is entirely possible that Microsoft is only playing nice because the EU is demanding it. Or it could be that they honestly want to start playing nice. Either way, the result is that Microsoft is less evil than before.
Is Ballmer still a patent troll? Yes. Is Microsoft brainwashing Best Buy employees with FUD? Yes. Was the OOXML fiasco illegal? Yes. (It is against US federal laws to bribe foreign officials). Was it illegal when Microsoft used bribes to block foreign Mandriva deals? Yes.
But Microsoft is more open than they were before. They used to be 99% evil, and now they're more like 90% evil.
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Sam won't leave M$; he will continue to astroturf like Joe Wilcox, Steve Ballmer, Paul Allen, and Bill Gates has while being paid by M$. Sam Ramiji is the anagram for I Am Sam Jr. and M$ is the acronym for evil. M$ will not only continue to hamper the efforts of free software, but hold onto a monopoly through the offerings of crappy non-free software, crappy specs, , and act as the so-called friends" of the free software movement. M$ will stab the free software movement in the back once M$ gains the undeserved full trust of the free software community. It is time for the Obama administration to send the FBI over to M$ and arrest all M$ executives for their illegal monopoly. After that M$ should be forced to free all of their code and specs for all file formats under the GPL 3 then turn all available money over to the free software movement. Once that happens the stock holders should be turned loose on the brooke M$. M$ should cease to exist.
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Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Friends do assist M$ addicted friends in committing suicide.