03.07.08
Microsoft Now Tries to Invade Eclipse, Apache (Updated)
It has only been one week since we mentioned Microsoft’s embrace of (to extend and extinguish) Java and also a short while since we last mentioned Apache in a similar context. It is not worth repeating the same arguments which were made at the time, but the gist of it is that Microsoft wants to envelope Free software projects, making them more reliant on Microsoft and dependent on Windows.
A week goes by and voila! Microsoft is now sweet-talking to Eclipse.
Microsoft’s Sam Ramji, director of open source and Linux strategy, said after the session that in two weeks, Microsoft will reveal plans to collaborate with open-source Eclipse Foundation projects. Those details are to be aired at the EclipseCon conference in Santa Clara, Calif. on March 19. Microsoft has been one of the industry’s few holdouts from Eclipse participation. (The foundation declined to comment afterward.) Microsoft also plans to work with the Apache Software Foundation.
“This is clearly a move against GNU/Linux, which is similar to Sun’s. ”This needs to stopped and the ignorance must be realised. We have explained before how Microsoft plans to harm these projects by entering their conferences (a friendly invasion morelike), so you are encouraged to look at past writings that are cited here. This is clearly a move against GNU/Linux, which is similar to Sun’s.
A reader wrote in to inform us about it. Here is his E-mail:
As you’ve already noticed, Microsoft marketeers have started a heavy, new offensive revisionist history is a big part of this round:
“Microsoft’s business was built out of open APIs,” Ramji said..
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/03/06/ms-open_1.html
Ha. How does infoworld find the gall to publish that? They used to do
a little better accuracy than that.
http://www.crn.com/it-channel/18821233
Also, note the use of borg elements, in this case Ramji of Zend, claiming it’s not so bad on the inside. That tactics is used every few days. Are they borg elements or are they called ‘useful idiots’ like Bill’s role model Lenin called them?
Eclipse is too important for development to be allowed to be broken like Zend was.
Here our some of our more recent writings that mention Zend and Microsoft’s true intention [1, 2]. █
“[If I ask you who is Microsoft's biggest competitor now, who would it be?] Open…Linux. I don’t want to say open source. Linux, certainly have to go with that.”
–Steve Ballmer, February 28th, 2008
Update: The same reader asked us to append a few points. His message follows.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20071221-antitrust-pact-payoff-samba…
Here’s a more recent one, showing that the undocumented API problem spans a very long time. The articles are 5 years apart. But it’s worse than that. The cases span nearly 2 decades.
[...]
Be sure to add a link to the Eclipse download page, and maybe a tutorial, to encourage people to try it before it’s gone. NetBeans is comparable tool. Both are useful in very large development projects or projects using lots of libraries and or objects / classes.
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.