If Microsoft really wants to be friends with Linux...

[pokerfan]

September 11, 2009 - 10:56 A.M.
Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols
Computerworld

Microsoft has created a new foundation, the CodePlex Foundation which claims to be about bringing open-source and proprietary software companies together to participate side by side in open-source projects. Yeah. Right.

There's a folk tale that goes something like this. A dog and a rattlesnake meet at the river. The snake says to the dog, "Why don't you carry me on your back to the other side?" The dog says, "Sure, I'd be happy to do that except you'll bite me." And the snake says, "No I won't. I really need to get across to the other side, and I won't bite you." The dog, a foolish sort, believes the snake's promise so he lets the snake on his back and he starts to swim across the river. At the mid-way point, the snake bites him. "What did you do that for?" exclaimed the dog, as they both begin to die. "What did you expect," replied the snake, "I'm a rattlesnake."

And, Microsoft is Microsoft. The Codex Foundation claims that it "will complement existing open source foundations and organizations, providing a forum in which best practices and shared understanding can be established by a broad group of participants, both software companies and open source communities." I don't believe it for a minute.

Microsoft doesn't mind stealing from open source, but any deals it makes are only good while there's a clear, short-term benefit to Microsoft. The second that changes, or Ballmer decides to have an anti-open-source fit again, the deal is off.

Besides, just like the snake in the story, Microsoft is more than happy to poison open-source software even as it proclaims that it wants to co-operate with open source. Just off the top of my head there's the revelation that Microsoft's ExpertZone training for Best Buy and other retailers is stuffed with anti-Linux lies.

http://blogs.computerworld.com/14716/if_microsoft_really_wants_to_be_friends_with_linux?source=rss_vnichols

[Duer 157099]

1. Hahahha, thanks for the good laugh

Me, I'm sticking with Google for the time being, they seem to be pretty intent on providing suites of tools for just about everything.

I just hope something horrible like Microsoft buying out Google never ever ever happens.

[pokerfan]

2. Microsoft is so hypocritical

They run around patenting everything from tabbed browsing to the command line interface shrieking that Apple and Linux are stealing from them and then get caught pinching and reselling open source code which violates pretty much the only restriction on open source (that it can't be used for commercial purposes).

"First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they fight you. Then you win."

[Statistical]

4. "which violates pretty much the only restriction on open source"

"which violates pretty much the only restriction on open source (that it can't be used for commercial purposes)."

Since when?

[Occulus]

3. What if Google somehow bought Microsoft? n/t