Microsoft teams with Linux distributor Xandros

TalkBack 16 of 26:

Next »

« Previous

• Thread View
• Flat View

FUD comes to Redmond

"What goes around, comes around." M$ will be gaining greater insight into that old lesson of business in greater and greater measure as time goes on.

It does not matter how many open source vendors "sign up" with Microsoft as a partner, since open source isn't dependent on any vendor for its survival and forward progress. It never was. It isn't now. The corporate model is essentially irrelevant to its growth, as history has already demonstrated beyond doubt. If it were not so, M$ wouldn't be ringing doorbells and offering "partnerships" -- not unlike having the local prostitute show up on your doorstep to propose marriage.

It is more likely those vendors "signing up" will come to discover they have bought an expensive defense against imagined threats that can never materialize. This will hinder their prosperity rather than facilitating it. Microsoft isn't going to sue anyone because they are probably more vulnerable to such lawsuits than any other company on the planet. Should legal hostilities break out, they have just about as much chance of success as has the ludicrous SCO "project", which everyone now ignores as a in irrelevant sideshow to get lawyers paid big fees. Since M$ was the paymaster in the corner for that charade, their newly hatched strategy is some evidence that ploy has failed. Now we're down to the only value proposition M$ has ever had on offer to the marketplace: FUD. It's a failed strategy, but the only "business plan" M$ has ever understood.

Microsoft is a company on the way down -- not up. That they have been suddenly initiating all these "joint ventures" to open source vendors is simply a tacit admission that their market dominance is certain to fade into the sunset, so they're just falling back and again trying -- as usual -- to catch a ride on other people's better work product.

Indeed, as someone has said, M$ are nothing more than a legal firm pretending to be a software producer. That isn't a viable business model, except in the very limited confines of the over-lawyered and already-saturated markets of North America. Where the real growth is occurring -- like China -- Bill is now out on the road hawking M$ software at the rock-bottom price he thinks it may find actually find buyers: virtually free.

It is therefore the Borg who are most likely to be assimilated.

Posted by: code_flogger   Posted on: 06/04/07 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

Alert moderator to an offensive message

Subscribe to this discussion via Email or RSS

SponsoredWhite Papers, Webcasts, and Downloads

• Three Steps You Need to Know to Stop Data Loss Varonis Sensitive data exposed to misuse or loss... it is the stuff of nightmares ... Download Now
• Why Isn't Server Virtualization Saving Us More? A Few Small Changes May Dramatically Increase Your Efficiency VMware Companies have rapidly adopted server virtualization over the past few ... Download Now
• The Impact of Virtualization Software on Operating Environments VMware Today's use of virtualization technology allows IT professionals to ... Download Now