Does Microsoft Have an Open Source Strategy Any More?
Whenever I write about Microsoft here I usually get a few comments asking me, with varying degrees of politeness, why I am wasting electrons on this subject on a site devoted to GNU/Linux. The reason I do this – and why I am about to do it again – is that whether we like it or not, Microsoft remains probably the single most important external factor in the free software world. It's useful, therefore, to try to understand what exactly the company's open source strategy is, in order to head off some of its worst aspects, and to build on any positive elements. The trouble is, I don't think Microsoft has an open source strategy any more.
The last few months have been particularly rich in contradictory signals. For example, we had this:
in a break from the ordinary, Microsoft released 20,000 lines of device driver code to the Linux community. The code, which includes three Linux device drivers, has been submitted to the Linux kernel community for inclusion in the Linux tree. The drivers will be available to the Linux community and customers alike, and will enhance the performance of the Linux operating system when virtualized on Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V or Windows Server 2008 R2 Hyper-V.
This was variously analysed as Microsoft seeing the light, Microsoft being forced to bow down before the mighty GNU GPL and Microsoft being its usual cunning self and piggybacking on the open source community for competitive edge.
Then we had the revelation of Microsoft “educating” third-party sales people about “weaknesses” in GNU/Linux. Another confusing episode in Microsoft-open source relations involved some patents:
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