12.13.06
“Commies” on the New York Stock Exchange
Apparently Microsoft Vista is an economy unto itself, but is only able to make money for everyone but Microsoft. Perhaps Microsoft isn’t as well versed in economic theory as we have always presumed, since they consider themselves a "Capitalist" Company but cannot help but give away the lion’s share of revenue created by their innovation.
Meanwhile, in "Communist" Company news…
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates once likened the open-source movement to communism, but there was little evidence of that on Tuesday when Linux specialist Red Hat took over the New York Stock Exchange.
Red Hat’s chief executive Matthew Szulik was on hand to ring the Exchange bell to announce the beginning of the day’s trading at the $23 trillion (£11.7tn) exchange and announce that his company was now listed on the NYSE, rather than its previous home on the Nasdaq.
While some have tried to spin Microsoft’s "recognition" of SUSE Linux as positive for open source, Red Hat on the NYSE requires no survey with preloaded questions to get positive press:
I think this is big, positive news for open source. Think about the implications: the NYSE is actively recruiting an open source company to list with it. Not because it wants a few more dollars in listing fees - it could get those anywhere. But because it wants the defining technology companies of this century to list with it, rather than elsewhere. Red Hat clearly fits that billing, as validated by the world’s premier stock exchange.
Congratulations, Red Hat.
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.