02.29.08
Who to Watch at Microsoft
Correspondence with an unnamed executive
One thing that remains rather clear is that some decent people do exist who also work at Microsoft. It is hard, however, to understand how they can surround themselves by so much of the poison which lacks supervision. Nobody tells them off for things like letters from the dead, briberies (more recently in Sweden, Nigeria and other places), among other things. In some recent communication with an executive of a large open source company we were told:
“I tend to be optimistic on people and companies. The same is true of Microsoft. […] I give them a chance…until they proven they don’t deserve it. My personal ambition is still to bury the company. That hasn’t changed.”
The man spoke about Steve Ballmer’s reaction and giveaway last week. Ballmer is not a nice person. It is hard to believe he ever will be (just watch these examples). Even Martin Taylor and Bill Hilf walked away from him. Unless the management is ‘rebooted’ — so to speak — Microsoft will remain a cult. Have you seen the Evangelism is War exhibit? It’s very telling. If you’re not with them, they are at war against you.
Bill Gates is writing many checks these days. We must keep our eyes wide open because by doing so we either:
- Force Gates and his Foundation become more careful in what they do, if not altogether avoid it; or
- Put to shame those who fall victim to the scams or accept money in exchange for lock-in
Either way, the practice gets suppressed by both the giver and the receiver. Hours ago someone told us that the head of the foundation did not actually leave. She was fired. We are still waiting for hard proof of this, such as an article. █
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.