Fouad Riaz Bajwa wrote:
Microsoft: Open source 'not reliable or dependable'
View the complete story at:
http://news.com.com/Microsoft+Open+source+not+reliable+or+dependable/2100-73
44_3-6074237.html?tag=nefd.pulse
A senior Microsoft executive told a BBC documentary that people should use
commercial software if they're looking for stability.
Yeah, it's the same game... it's a game of influence, of marketing, and
it works fairly well. But what the Microsoft executive needs to figure
out is the difference between commercial and non-commercial software,
which is a major faux-pas from an esteemed member of the software
marketing community. I say marketing because it's an executive, and not
an engineer who actually has something to do with the code.
There are many commercial open source/[free software] applications out
there. Linux, Apache, BSD... the difference between commercial and
non-commercial is about *selling*, not about software licenses.
Therefore I stand on a pretty strong foundation when I say that the
Microsoft Executive in question is either willfully misleading or
incompetent or ignorant, or a synergistic combination of all three.
Now, had he said that FOSS isn't stable he would be expressing an
opinion. What he has done is made a stronger case for FOSS commercial
products, for the people out there who know the difference between
commercial and non-commercial. I believe that this includes everyone on
this list.
That said, I do wish Microsoft luck in releasing anything soon, and I
certainly hope that whatever they release doesn't permit the continued
plague of flaws and vulnerabilities that the general population of the
world has become familiar with. And here's where I cross the line and
express an unsubstantiated opinion: Perhaps they should use the Blue
Screen of Death as a marketing ploy, since it seems that the more some
people see it, the more often they reinstall Windows. :-)
--
Taran Rampersad
Presently in: San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago
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