07.29.08
Reactions to Microsoft’s ‘Embrace’ of Open Source at OSCON 2008
‘Embrace’ (to Extend) versus Embrace for Promotion, Contribution
Leaving the spin from the press aside, it’s worth taking a close look at what Microsoft has done at OSCON.
Microsoft wants to blow FOSS developers a kiss while at the same time securing Microsoft’s income. Some innocent developers and passive Microsoft employees/recruits liaise with a company that, objectively speaking, has a criminal past and an appalling history. In fact, even recently it has proven that nothing whatsoever has changed. It is that same old spoiled brat that disregards the law, resorting to bribery, bullying, fraud, extortion, technical sabotage, and blackmail. It’s all well documented.
Bruce Perens and this Web site are far from the only sources that are critical of Microsoft’s latest moves. Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols, for instance, is not buying it, either.
You see some people still believe that Microsoft offering patented protocols under “reasonable and non-discriminatory terms,” or “for free for noncommercial use without fear of lawsuits” is somehow some kind of olive branch to the open-source community.
As Tiemann put it: “A free-of-cost license that prohibits commercial use is useless to open-source developers. And therefore I cannot understand why anybody would think that Microsoft is doing the open-source community any favors.”
He’s got that right.
There are some more details from Vaughan-Nichols in ComputerWorld
The first announcement, that Microsoft was contributing a patch to ADOdb, a PHP database access interface, wasn’t that big a deal. It is, after all, self-serving. Microsoft’s contribution will enable people to use its own SQL Server instead of MySQL or PostgreSQL with PHP programs. Yawn. Nothing new here.
Apache too was considered over the weekend [1, 2, 3]. Microsoft uses Apache for document lock-in, making its formats more prevalent than the real international standard [1, 2]. Apache might not mind this, but it’s being used against other groups of FOSS developers. Sean Michael Kerner had this to say, based on what he had seen at OSCON.
Ramji also said Microsoft has been working with the Apache POI project, which develops APIs for using pure Java to manipulate various file formats based upon Microsoft’s OLE 2 Compound Document format. Those include most Microsoft Office formats, except for the more recent Office Open XML formats, for which Microsoft has embarked on a massive campaign to see adopted as industry standards.
[...]
Overall, Ramji tried his best to ingratiate himself with the OSCON crowd — even wearing a Mozilla Firefox T-Shirt, and telling the audience that he wants to engage openly and honestly with the open source community. That’s a message that he’s been preaching for some time.
Steve Stites writes:
For several years the Microsoft astroturf has periodically reported on the activities of a pro open source faction within Microsoft. This factional fight is probably one of many within the Microsoft bureaucracy which apparently endures constant, intense infighting. But I don’t see what interest it is to anybody other than a Microsoft bureaucrat.
Another comment of interest:
Fourth, it means MS wants to seed the Apache Group with Code that they will attach their IP to. This way, they can extract funds from users in the future, with their contributions.
Is it a good deal for Apache? In the short term, it provides them with cash. Is it a good deal for MS? Of course, it gives them access to a code base and hopefully developers they desperately need. Is it good for the development and user community? NO!!! Why not? It means MS is once again employing their extend, embrace, and extinguish paradigm, which has worked so well for them in the past.
From Rex Ballard:
Message-ID: <2fee4c71-f8a7-4abd-bc29-654ea71b24f4@x41g2000hsb.googlegroups.com>
From: Rex Ballard <rex.ballard@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
Subject: Re: Microsoft donate to Apache
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2008 23:08:59 -0700 (PDT)
[...]
> ,—-
> | Microsoft has bolstered its credentials with advocates of open source
> | software.
Microsoft’s credentials and “Embrace, Extend, Extinguish” tactics are
well-known throughout the industry.
What’s surprising is that the Apache organization actually took the
money.
> | It has given cash to the Apache organisation which oversees development
> | of open source web server software.
This may be yet another sign that Microsoft’s IIS is not doing what
Microsoft would like it to do. Furthermore, benchmarks between Apache
on Linux or Unix, and Apache on Windows Server NT, 2000, and 2003 have
always been disappointing. Normally, Microsoft sponsors it’s own
benchmarks, comparing ISAPI applications to Apache CGI applications
rather than Apache Plug-ins.
I would suspect that Microsoft is hoping for Apache’s blessings of
OpenXML, as well as the ability to shove Microsoft binary blobs
directly through Apache servers into PCs, where the embedded OLE
objects can run amok on any Windows PC capable of handling the OpenXML
format.
Microsoft is also looking for ways to measure the Linux market more
accurately, because the usual methods used to measure Windows are just
not going to report Linux systems (unless the user has installed
special software to enable ActiveX controls.
Perhaps they are looking at ways to embed signed Java Applets, which
can also be used to install “snitch-ware” and other forms of malware
on Linux systems.
We’ll see.
To Apache, this deal seemed harmless, but it may harm other groups of FOSS developers. Tomorrow, hypothetically speaking, another group might sell out to Microsoft and be happy with it while hurting Apache. In that respect, it is the almost same as the funneling of money into Novell’s bank account, which made some pointy-haired managers happy but almost everyone else in the FOSS world nervous.
Of course Apache will deny all of this because they want to believe, they are being defensive, they took the money and then encouraged to praise Microsoft, which is now their sponsor. Corel too thought it would enjoy its little deal with Microsoft while continuing its development of GNU/Linux. Where is it today? What about MySQL? Honeymoons rarely last forever. Sooner or later, it’s purely down to business, to shareholders. █
Agent Smith said,
July 29, 2008 at 8:01 am
And M$ just donated 100 thousand U.S. dollars … Just 100 thousand U. S. dollars… Quick change in the bottom of their pockets… Tsc Tsc Tsc… Even Canonical (Mark “Ubuntu” Shuttleworth could donate more…).
Apache Foundation sold Apache very cheap…
aeshna23 said,
July 29, 2008 at 9:38 am
I hate to say this, but I’m not convinced by the information provided above that Apache has sold out. My understanding of the relevant information is that Apache is letting people interface with Microsoft databases and/or Office documents–which seems to me to make Apache more useful in the real world where some people sadly still use MS. Is there some fact that I’m missing that would change my mind?
Agent Smith said,
July 29, 2008 at 10:34 am
No, not sold as a car is sold. But sold as: now M$ is a partner (even worse, a sponsor) and what harm can be done to Apache Server (and all the community as well). I don’t know, but past experiences led me to think that Apache Server will face many difficulties in the near future. And, if they(M$) cannot improve IIS, they will try to make Apache worse. That’s what i think.
Roy Schestowitz said,
July 29, 2008 at 11:29 am
I’m thinking along the lines of Microsoft joining the ODF committee. They want to control or at least influence both sides. There’s plenty of history to teach about such tactics (remember Microsoft and W3C?).
“We’re disheartened because Microsoft helped W3C develop the very standards that they’ve failed to implement in their browser. We’re also dismayed to see Microsoft continue adding proprietary extensions to these standards when support for the essentials remains unfinished.”
–George Olsen, Web Standards Project
That was the days of Netscape. Now they have Wilson slowing down HTML5 (bureaucracy and such) while Microsoft prepares its substitute, XAML (Silverlight).
Novell’s software patent deal too was marketed as “for the customers” (“they want interoperability”). Watch Apache’s explanations.
aeshna23 said,
July 29, 2008 at 12:08 pm
Ok. I think I see your points Agent Smith and Roy. What I’m understanding is that you are more concerned about possible future harm than harm from any action Apache has taken thus far. I strongly agree that MS is a treacherous partner and I just hope that the people at Apache have enough historical knowledge to understand this.