Date: Thu, 28 Jun 2001 12:26:10 -0400 From: "Pedro F. Giffuni" <pfg1+@pitt.edu> To: "Jason S. Anderson" <jason.anderson@windriver.com> Cc: John Baldwin <jhb@FreeBSD.ORG>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Microsoft giving back to FreeBSD !! Message-ID: <3B3B5AA2.B834512D@pitt.edu> References: <XFMail.010627143038.jhb@FreeBSD.org> <5.0.2.1.2.20010627194638.01ad1970@mail.wrs.com>
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"Jason S. Anderson" wrote:
>
...
>
> IMHO, what I would interpret from Microsoft's activities over the
> past 18 months or so -- .NET, the GPL vendetta, supporting variant
> forms of open-source licensing -- as a survival reaction. It's clear
> that the traditional desktop application platform isn't going to
> scale through the next decade, and so they must either invent a new
> model or embrace other existing ones. They're hedging their bets by
> doing both, but I think I know which they hope will pan out.
>
Some months ago there was an article in the Wall Street Journal that
suggested MS .NET strategy as a response to two factors:
1) An evident loss of revenue: most of MS's revenue comes from new
computer sells and those are not doing well either. By changing the
licenseing model to a subscription type they could leverage better the
market and would be less dependant on making new releases.
2) The antitrust trial; by making office OS independent but still
controlable by microsoft, the eventual split in the company could be
made irrelevant.
> The question is what does it mean to FreeBSD? Like Microsoft, there
> is a need to establish an identity that will survive through the
> next decade. If anything, .NET could turn out to be a great
> opportunity to position BSD as a better .NET server than Windows.
> Microsoft still wins by establishing .NET as a viable framework and
> peddling their wares through web services, while becoming less
> dependent on monopolization of the operating system commodity.
>
I think they noticed the big flaw in .NET strategy. Even when they
have worked hard to gain control of the Internet, .NET will not be
successful if it isn't accepted by the unix domains on the network.
Notice, however, that they chose very well how to refer to FreeBSD:
"FreeBSD has traditionally been an operating system that encouraged
unencumbered experimentation. ... And that's what we're using it for."
If MS is not split up (and that is clearly their expectation) they can
say "we worked with the community and we created a new standard, but
of course, the Windows platform still rules." If MS is split up they
will have arguments to play on a license friendly platform and not in
a GPL world. FreeBSD can also be their fallback plan to resist
pressure to produce a linux port of MS Office.
Admittedly the people in Microsoft are not dumb at all. They are not
doing this because they are "good citizens" either but I still don't
see anything bad on this for FreeBSD.
The one negative effect I can foresee is most GPL fundamentalists will
hate us ..but wait!! they already do :).
Pedro.
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