> Message: 5
> From: "Dennison Uy" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: [plug] Ballmer: "We'll outsmart open source"
>
> "Although Microsoft cannot compete against Linux on price, the company
> will use its community of professionals to outsmart the open-source
> movement..."
>
> http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1104-959112.html
>
> First Palladium.. then DRM.. now this! What next? They gonna own the
> government? Geez!!!!!
>
> Den
MS has far proven themselves to being far from a clueless
company. If they were, Linux would have eaten up a far
bigger chunk of their server marketshare than it has. The
fact that NT still has a bigger share than Linux is proof
that they have done probably the best that they could to
stem the migration.
If we take Ballmer's public statements at face value,
then all is well and this competition spurring on
innovation is exactly how it should be in a free
marketplace.
For example, I seriously doubt Windows XP would be as good
as it is were it not for the fact that the competition
from Linux made MS so paranoid about the desktop and they
decided to pull out all the stops to improve it. Because
of the cost differential, Windows has to be TWICE as good
as Linux (Linux still loses out significantly when it comes
to ease of use - or at the very least imposes way more bloat
- i.e. Mandrake - to get a comparable degree of ease-of-use)
to keep a critical mass of people on their platform. If they
lose that critical mass they will have signed their own death
warrant.
My primary objection to MS has always only been their
use of foul, strongarm tactics to preserve their
dominance. I do find it extremely annoying to have to
deal with proprietary formats like .asf, but the fact
is that any company is free to introduce whatever formats
they want, and it is up to the marketplace (us end-users
and developers) to make the decision whether to accept
these or not. Always keep in mind that ranting against
MS' proprietary formats is futile if the tools for
dealing with the open formats are inferior. So far, MS
has been very clever in the juggling act of embracing
open and proprietary technologies so as to extract
the maximum benefit for their platform (and they are
also of course leveraging the synergism it has with
Windows' huge adoption). Too much proprietary
technology and they will lose their platform's appeal,
too much openness and they stand to profit less. To
counter the lesser appeal of a proprietary format,
they have to use a combination of sly marketing as well
as providing a bit more technical gloss for their formats.
Linux's non-price has been a great equalizer against
MS' glitzy marketing and has been able to bring the
fight squarely down to plain technical merits and Linux,
in so far as the advocacy is limited to its technical and
cost-related issues (I think religious ones always tend
to backfire in the end anyway) has proven a viable alternative
and increasingly so. MS knows this and that is why they
are softening their stance on Linux ("Linux is not going
to go away"). For me, it has just become a race as to who is
going to lead in terms of features and ease of use (both
for developers and end-users) and that is *good* for
everyone involved.
If .NET fizzles out, MS may find themselves having to
adapt to Linux even further, maybe even go as far as to
embrace it (despite their public pronouncements, I'm
sure they have not disregarded this scenario at all
internally). If they don't, then they would have indeed
proven themselves clueless - valuing religion over hard
reality. So far all indications are that they're too
smart for that.
_
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