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Microsoft Claims 'We Love Open Source'

Posted by Soulskill on from the admiral-ackbar-unavailable-for-comment dept.

jbrodkin writes "Everyone in the Linux world remembers Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer's famous comment in 2001 that Linux is a 'cancer' that threatened Microsoft's intellectual property. While Microsoft hasn't formally rescinded its declaration that Linux violates its patents, at least one Microsoft executive admits that the company's earlier battle stance was a mistake. Microsoft wants the world to understand, whatever its issues with Linux, it no longer has any gripe toward open source."

8 of 464 comments (clear)

  1. Meet the 4 stages by suso · · Score: 5, Insightful

    “First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.” -- Gandhi

    We've already gone through the first 3 stages over the past 15 years. And just so you're not confused, winning != world domination.

    1. Re:Meet the 4 stages by HermMunster · · Score: 5, Informative

      Embrace, extend, extinguish.

      Never forget. Microsoft has never helped open source. They have only contributed to their own version of it, which is very much unlike open source as it was defined 10+ years ago.

      --
      You can lead a man with reason but you can't make him think.
    2. Re:Meet the 4 stages by drewhk · · Score: 5, Funny

      1. First they ignore you
      2. then they laugh at you,
      3. then they fight you,
      4. then you quote Gandhi
      5. ???
      6. Profit

    3. Re:Meet the 4 stages by HermMunster · · Score: 5, Insightful

      The assumption is that Open Source would never have been created, that there'd be no advancement, that the world needed a Microsoft to foster a competitive environment.

      I followed the industry from the very beginnings of Microsoft and have been part of that industry for nearly 3 decades. What I can say is that had it not been for Microsoft the industry would be much bigger, more competition would have been fostered, greater improvements in the computer and interface would have been made, there'd be more markets and more competitors in each market, which easily would have dwarfed what Microsoft "might" have done in the off-hand way you describe. I give them no credit.

      --
      You can lead a man with reason but you can't make him think.
    4. Re:Meet the 4 stages by maiki · · Score: 5, Funny

      Ignore, Embrace, Extend, Extinguish... so THIS is what IEEE stands for?

  2. They really DO love "open source" by Locke2005 · · Score: 5, Informative

    The just have a different definition of what "open source" means than you and I. "Open Source" to Microsoft means that they are free to incorporate other people's work into their software with any reciprocation or release of the modified code. Unfortunately many companies feel this way open source code.

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
    1. Re:They really DO love "open source" by OutSourcingIsTreason · · Score: 5, Informative

      That isn't my experience. Several years ago I worked at a software house that was acquired by Microsoft. The first thing they did was audit our source code to identify all the modules derived from open source. Before the sale could go through we had to rewrite those modules from scratch.

      --
      "Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power." -- Mussolini
  3. Re:Riiight. by Reapman · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Not troll, just, at least partially, wrong.

    Your vision of Linux is rather laughable, and reminds me of Linux fanboys that think of Windows as a Win95 box. Both OS's have progressed passed that point in history.

    I just spent a week of evenings fixing up two Windows XP comptuers because they were completely unusable. Windows isn't some holy "it just works" operating system.

    Another example, my mom is now running Ubuntu, at least temporarily. When I setup her computer I set it up with Dual Boot capabilities in case something happened to her Windows. Well it started slowing to a crawl, and I couldn't figure out why. I ran out of time to diagnose, so she's setup in Ubuntu and is doing what she did before just fine. I showed her how to get back into Windows if there's something she needs, and watched her do it to make sure how, but so far she hasn't felt the need.

    Another example is XBMC's Live CD, where I was able to get a fully functional Media Center PC by simply putting in a CD, everything just worked. Now install Windows 7 and their Media Center offering. It'll work, and it'll work great, but I'll already be done watching a couple episodes by then in XBMC.

    No, I don't go around installing Linux for my friends and family, Windows has real advantages over Linux (and vice versa). but to dismiss it without a second thought is doing yourself a diservice.