05.28.08
Microsoft is Attacking GNU/Linux from Fort 25 [sic]
“Port 25 heals cancer”
Great catch from Glyn Moody who says:
One of the unexpected benefits of Microsoft’s desire to get some hot openness-juice is that in its effort to appear open it is revealing far more of its internal thought processes. Here’s a fascinating document coming out of that – actually a job advertisement for the post of Senior Marketing Manager – Open Source Community.
[…]
So, let’s see, who’s the loser here? Oh, look, it’s GNU/Linux: moving the “open source stacks” to the Microsoft platform means swapping out GNU/Linux for Windows. Indeed, as I’ve suggested before, this represents the core idea of Microsoft’s current tactics: to marginalise GNU/Linux, while making soothing noises to the world of open source apps.
Why might that be? Well, if you think about it, GNU/Linux is by far the most mature, most successful and most resilient open source project. Open source apps, by contrast, are relatively nenwcomers to the enterprise scene, with weak roots there. Bolstering the latter will do very little harm to Microsoft’s bottom line; encouraging them to work with Microsoft on Windows ports, and then encouraging customers to play Swap-a-Stack will, though, undermine GNU/Linux’s growing position in the enterprise.
Remember our very recent post about Blender. It’s just one among many examples. █
“Linux is a cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual property sense to everything it touches.”
–Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO
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.