On Mon, 19 Feb 2001, Coutu, Dan wrote:
> It is very clear that the people at Microsoft, such as Jim Allchin, can no
> longer see the forest for the trees when it comes to innovation.
(This rant was inspired by a comment I saw on LinuxToday.)
Microsoft sees Linux as a threat because Linux (or, more correctly, the Open
Source movement) has the capability to do to Microsoft exactly what Microsoft
does to other companies: Pull the rug out from under them. Microsoft does it
by marketing, strong-arm tactics, corporate purchase, "embrace and extend",
and outright theft. Linux does it by making Microsoft's major revenue stream
obsolete.
A traditional product -- say a car -- has a development cost and a
manufacturing cost. The price the customer pays covers the manufacturing cost
plus some extra. Initially, that "extra" pays for the development. Once
development is paid for, the "extra" becomes profit. With a traditional
product, the manufacturing cost is significant, so the "extra" is (usually)
not unreasonable.
A software product, on the other hand, has basically zero manufacturing
cost. The media, manuals, etc., can be viewed as accessories, or marketing
materials. Development is the only significant cost. Yet, traditional
software companies, Microsoft included, are built on the idea of selling
software. Not software development, but the software itself.
That is what the phrase "Intellectual Property" means to the conventional
software industry -- not just software, but *software you can sell*. IP which
you cannot sell is worthless to them; thus they ignore it. Open Source shifts
the focus from selling software to selling software development. So, in one
sense, Open Source is a very real threat to *their* Intellectual Property, by
making *their* IP market obsolete.
It was as if, all this time, Ford paid nothing to manufacture the cars they
sell, and all of a sudden, someone sat up and asked why they had to pay for it
anyway.
I don't blame Microsoft for being scared. They are looking straight into
potential oblivion.
I think we are going to eventually see a lot of software companies start to
get really nervous about Open Source. Fighting the common enemy of Microsoft
(whose publicly stated goal is to *be* the software industry), many
traditional software companies have not noticed that Linux also threatens
their own business model. I doubt many of them will want to throw away their
own revenue stream.
It will be very interesting to see how it all plays out.
--
Ben Scott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Net Technologies, Inc. <http://www.ntisys.com>
Voice: (800)905-3049 x18 Fax: (978)499-7839
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