Is Microsoft's open systems promise reliable?

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Threat assessment

Your point on the ever-shifting sands of Microsoft intentions simply underscores one of the basic rules of threat assessments: "assess enemy capabilities, not enemy intentions."

In the present instance, that means that the only things that others should count on from Microsoft are the enforceable terms of their commitments. The OSP (from the post title) is a good example of something that can't be trusted, precisely because it has engineered-in legal escape clauses. Microsoft Legal certainly knows how to write unambiguous text, and the fact that they have put so many fine-print outs in the OSP are a red flag to anyone who isn't deep into a trust relationship in the first place.

Two good examples are Robert Scoble's account of MS internal discussions about the fact that Microsoft had reserved the option of suing Mono out of existence and [url=http://talkback.zdnet.com/5208-10535-0.html?forumID=1&threadID=47762&messageID=889966&start=0]Brian Goldfarb's recent TalkBack post[/url] stating that Mono is "limited just to Novell."

It would be very, very foolish to assume that all that fine print isn't there for a reason.

Posted by: Yagotta B. Kidding   Posted on: 05/29/08 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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