Microsoft to reclaim developers with free software?
Gavin Clarke of The Register nails it with a review of Microsoft's latest attempt to attract the next generation of Norwegian software developers.
The problem?
Microsoft believes that it has "lost" a generation of developers who might have embraced Windows and .Net, thanks to the Mac and open-source frameworks and operating systems.
In an ongoing attempt to woo the next generation Microsoft's rumbustious chief executive will next week announce the latest extension of a program offering Microsoft software worth thousands of dollars at a price point no student can refuse: free.
And so, as Clarke points out, Microsoft plans to give away mostly unpopular or out-of-date Microsoft software (with the exception of Visual Studio 2008) in an effort to reclaim the "lost" generation.
Microsoft is one of the smartest companies around, but I'm not sure that this ploy will work. Why? Because the so-called lost generation can already get excellent open-source software development tools for free: the latest releases, the hottest titles, the most vibrant online communities. For free.
It's a race to see who can attract the rising generation, and Microsoft may struggle to do this. It has largely won the battle among the older generation of IT workers. The future, however, is wide open.
Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
I would advise you to do your homework before bashing MS. If you look at the list of software, everything there is the latest version except for sql server 2005. Trust me on this, I worked on several IDE's and VS 2008 blows everything else out of the water.
May I know the reason why you put Mac and open source together? They are as wide as Andromeda and Milky way. Mac is as close to a "closed" system you can get.
As for the Mac, everything compiles on GCC compilers and XCode comes with the computer. Clearly you've tried so many IDEs you've forgotten what they were. You just let me know when Visual Studio supports OpenGL post 1996.
That's why.
No cost, ever.
No professional price for the software, no student price.
Much of the open source dev community is linux based. That means a lot of those skills transfer well to OS X as it is Unix based.
We have used numerous open source and Microsoft development tools. Visual Studio and the free Microsoft support and community are vastly superior to their open source counterparts. Please make some attempt to tone down your blatant Microsoft bashing and do a bit more homework before posting.
p.s.,
This is one of the only blog responses I have ever authored ... I am just not sure how to unsubscribe to your blog without dropping CNET altogether.
I am amazed that Matt calls MS dev tools "mostly unpopular or out-of-date"..
Matt,
I dare you to answer this question.... How did you arrive at the conclusion that MS dev tools are mostly "unpopular or out-of-date"....
Matt: You are definitely the most BIASED blogger I've ever seen. It's not even funny anymore. I think ~75% of your posts are just bashing Microsoft. I really don't understand why do you do this so desperately? You have completly lost ALL credibility to *anyone* reading CNET and the only reason many of us actually get here is because (like someone mentioned) there's no way to unsuscribe from only your posts on the RSS feed.
Matt: You are definitely the most BIASED blogger I've ever seen. It's not even funny anymore. I think ~75% of your posts are just bashing Microsoft. I really don't understand why do you do this so desperately? You have completly lost ALL credibility to *anyone* reading CNET and the only reason many of us actually get here is because (like someone mentioned) there's no way to unsuscribe from only your posts on the RSS feed.
I'm not a Windows user, but it's been a while since I saw a good piece of software become a "best seller" on this platform.
Maybe you can enlighten me.
Oh, and no offence intended. At anyone at all.
- by kennonk September 29, 2008 8:04 PM PDT
- Umm...maybe you knuckleheads need to read the titles of Matt's Blog before you comment...the OPEN ROAD. And to clear up any further confusion for the apparently mentally challenged, he does not drive a car for a living. I for one think 90% of Matt's opinions are off the mark but to attack him for MS bashing? You guys must live in caves or work in Redmond or something. Here is a link where you can find happy stories of MS propaganda and never be upset at any mean old blogger ever: http://www.microsoft.com/communities/blogs/PortalHome.mspx
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- by softwaredesignengineer September 30, 2008 10:10 AM PDT
- There's enough reason to call a spade a spade in the midst of all this disinformation:
- Like this
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