The Competition for Developers

Ray Cromwell writes "Software competition a concern is a major concern, according to Steve Ballmer. Amongst other things, Steve says that the growing amount of development done for the Linux operating system by the work of volunteers developers worldwide is "scary." Ballmer also characterized the free-form Linux community as "somewhat crazy," but said Microsoft now has "a real server competitor." "

Comments

Interesting Microsoft world view...

[Ami Ganguli]

It's funny that Microsoft wants us to believe that Linux and NT are the only real competitors in the server market. They're trying to defeat IBM, HP, and Sun (their real competitors in the high-end market) by excluding them from the contest.

The next step is to publish white papers like "Linux or Windows 2000, which is better for your enterprise?". Lets face it, neither Windows nor Linux is ready for seriously massive enterprise deployment today. But if MS can make it seem like these are the only choices they might take market share away from the companies that really have viable products.

Does anyone else see this going where I see it...?

[Zeitgeist]

So, here's my perception of all this.. see if anyone else agrees with me.

• We all know M$ is deep in their DoJ trial. Check.
• They are in this situation because of bad (illegal?) marketing practices which prevent competition (Yes, I saw it up close and in person).
• One of their biggest "defenses" is that Linux is "competition" to them.
• We've probably noticed that M$ has let up a little on their OEM restrictions since this trial began (e.g., we're now actually seeing some OEM's selling linux boxen).

Now.. consider this article, and Ballmer's statements, and also the article earlier today on MSNBC about *BSD.

• Right in the middle of the *BSD article, they placed a link to "Discuss Linux and BSD on the BBS", opening up a forum for the less tactful Linux advocates to do their less-than-tactful Linux advocacy.
• This latest article portends to cast a shadow of competition behind Linux, taking some heat off M$.

Get to the point!! Okay. Consider what's going to happen if the DoJ -does- by Microsoft's claims of competition from Linux. Consider also that having a lot of money (which Bill Gates has more of than anyone else in the world [except maybe that one sultan of somewhere.. right? ugh]) can get you a LOT of bonus points in the American "Justice" system. So, let's suppose that M$ gets out of this anti-trust suit with a "not guilty", or whatever the equivalent ruling. Or even suppose that they get off with a slap on the wrist.. then what? Then they dive head-long back into their anti-competitional business while they still have a majority of market share. OEM's and customers alike still depend heavily on M$ because they haven't had the time to switch strongly to Linux (and let's face it.. Linux isn't quite ready). Next step? M$, using their traditional brute force, retakes the market share they've lost in the past few months, summarily crushing the "Linux Movement". Wow.. don't I sound paranoid? Probably, but that's honestly how I see it. Anyone else agree? Zeitgeist

sigh...

[ttyRazor]

In a perfect world, Microsoft's approach to competition should be "bring it on!", but instead they continue to think of competition as a win-lose situation; someone can only succeed at others' expense. As long they respond to competitive threats with better code, then they might not disappear off the face of the earth once thier market share slips. I guess anything less than everything can only look like a loss when you've been ahead for so long.

M$ don't get the brains anymore.

[Pingo]

I guess what realy scares M$ is that most of the young guys studying computer science has no interest what so ever in Win32.

Here in Sweden when we recruit new software engineers direct from college they show no particular interest in Win32. Instead they are fluent in the UNIX/Linux environment. I have also got the impression that this distaste for Win32 is valid in most countries.

Each time a fresh guy comes on interview and passes my room, he smiles and chuckles when seeing my Linux posters. He becomes very comfortable and often admits to use Win32 sometimes for gameplay but not for any real serious things. This is a big plus and one step closer to get an offer.

Microsoft do have every reason to be scared. They will have huge difficulties to steal any new technology from small upstart companies. Their foodchain is completly broken.

//Pingo