I’ve been doing “Open Source” stuff for a decade, but I work at Microsoft (They don’t call me Misfit for nothing.)
There are a few folks in the so called Open Source Community that viscerally HATE Microsoft. Personally I consider this a chosen form of stupidity.
I love working at Microsoft and I love many of our products, and I dislike some of the others.
I love and use many non-Microsoft products, and hate others.
But I do so based on the products attributes.
Lest we forget what the original Open Source thing was all about,
Linux Magazine reports on some interesting Linus Torvalds comments…
I’m a big believer in “technology over politics”. I don’t care who it comes from, as long as there are solid reasons for the code, and as long as we don’t have to worry about licensing etc issues.
I may make jokes about Microsoft at times, but at the same time, I think the Microsoft hatred is a disease. I believe in open development, and that very much involves not just making the source open, but also not shutting other people and companies out.
There are ‘extremists’ in the free software world, but that’s one major reason why I don’t call what I do ‘free software’ any more. I don’t want to be associated with the people for whom it’s about exclusion and hatred.”
There is not a single word here that I can disagree with. While I think it’s perfectly acceptable to for the Free and open source community to be a little more vigilant when it comes to Microsoft’s forays into this world, the outright blind hatred is nothing but a detrimental force that holds the Free and open source community back.
…and
I agree that it’s driven by selfish reasons, but that’s how all open source code gets written! We all “scratch our own itches”. It’s why I started Linux, it’s why I started git, and it’s why I am still involved. It’s the reason for everybody to end up in open source, to some degree.
So complaining about the fact that Microsoft picked a selfish area to work on is just silly. Of course they picked an area that helps them. That’s the point of open source – the ability to make the code better for your particular needs, whoever the ‘your’ in question happens to be.
Does anybody complain when hardware companies write drivers for the hardware they produce? No. That would be crazy. Does anybody complain when IBM funds all the POWER development, and works on enterprise features because they sell into the enterprise? No. That would be insane.
So the people who complain about Microsoft writing drivers for their own virtualization model should take a long look in the mirror and ask themselves why they are being so hypocritical.
It’s always refreshing to hear someone level-headed discuss issues like this. I guess this is also the reason why, after so many years, Linus is still the undisputed benevolent dictator of
Very good, Linus!
Yes, I’m not sure why any programmer would care what system they’re developing on, besides what their project dictates, obviously. Programming is fun on Windows, Linux, Solaris, etc…
Good to see Linus say that he doesn’t believe in software that is only free. I find that opinion to be naively in favor of one specific business model over another. Open Source is very powerful as the development of a common platform. But that model isn’t always the best for a number of different reasons.
Believe it or not, it is "trendy" to dislike microsoft. Trust me, there are many things about Microsoft that I don’t like, but on the other hand I see the company at least attempting to move in new directions – Silverlight is a great example and is my favorite MS technology at the moment. The fact that MS is moving towards more open technology is a real positive thing .. it just takes time to turn the tide of acceptance
and how is microsoft open source ?
I agree with other people about the open source dilemma , at the end Linux is not free at the enterprise level, microsoft is not open source at the operating system and IL/VM level so most programmers dont care about open source, what we care about is that when the switch is on it really mean is ON and we dont have to go to a 1000 page book to figure out that its behaving unexpectedly.
I started with MS then moved to Linux world to come back after 8 years to .net. I think MS moving to open source is a good move and could save it from google and java.
And i dont think open source means free it just means better.
I would have to agree here that a lot of people lack objectivity when they criticise Microsoft vs open source.
Microsoft has in many ways has been one of the most significant contributors to the advancement of the personal computer. I’ve worked with some older computers systems if pdp 11 or j11 processors rings a sounds familiar then you know there was no inter compatible standard. There was nothing could be adapted or made to work together without moving heaven or earth or at least so it seems.
Microsoft has been a fantastic driver of a common standard that allows us to plug all our toys and devices into the PC/ integrate applications, systems, databases on servers etc (long list).
Microsoft has made many positive contributions and at other times done some things I may not always agree with, that’s life. As human nature dictates if only even one negative occurs, it stands out in our minds most and over arches all the positives.
Open source is also a fantastic contribution and in my opinion it even adds tremendous value for people that don’t even use it. Microsoft always has to keep up with progress and is not likely to fall behind open source software with new innovations. This type of competition drives Microsoft to deliver to its customers. After all if I could use an open sources alternative that was completely standardised and worked within the business model from the same perspective then I possibly would based on cost.
Open source in many respects balances the equation it’s a form of competition that cannot be stamped its autonomy is brilliant like that.
Every software model has various aspects to it pros and cons. Some innovations work better under open source and others closed source. It’s interesting how many people don’t seem to see that? Or perhaps it’s the ones that don’t make the most noise!
I’m really into .NET actually especially ASP.NET and C#, but I like to mess around with some of the other open source technologies as well like MySQL and PHP, (but even some others like Perl). It’s so sad that people are so single-minded and chooses just one technology to work with or just one company. Better to be open-minded and do other stuff also. That’s just more fun!!!
some one hate Microsoft just because the admire the guys in Microsoft. so, although they hate, if there is an opportunity to work in Microsoft, they will not hesitate to take the opportunity.
Good Linus,
I just want to make one point. I usually come across magazines and online news channels bashing microsoft and vista. They claim that Ubuntu with no exact working intel graphics driver to be the better one. The articles are so well written that any one using windows will format it and install ubuntu. But the real problems arise when they start using it. But that’s the way i have learnt using linux and I also feel that it’s not good too.
We should admire MS for it’s services to common man by making the OS so beginner friendly and productive. Even programming for their very own platform is easy as they have a framework(dotnet). They try to simplify the programmer’s task not letting him go to the machine level coding.
I think just judging the company basing on their price tag is not good.
One more thing….I like Open Office.org and KOffice than MSOffice just because they almost have all its features, they are free and I can do my common editing tasks easily and productively without having to pay a single rupee for purchasing it.
Thanks.