Comments on: OSBC Report: Microsoft attempts to cross the chasm to open source

Microsoft has made great strides, but it's nowhere near done.

[coffee2000]

Matt,

What vehicle could Microsoft use to go open? Each of their products is quite large, and it appears they are afraid of the impact on their revenue streams. Would something in their tools division work as a first step?

[Papa Chango]

So, the head of the liars (lawyers, your pick) gave a speech?
I followed the Samba tribulations in court, I know very well the quality of bulls*** Brad is capable of. But hey, like Bill Milf, he's a nice guy, so its ok, right?

Hey Matt, if I told you that you were a parasite, a cancer, a lazy opportunist who is getting rich stealing the work of others, how would you feel?
Would you feel better if I added that I 'respect and appreciate the important role that you play in the computing world'?
When the guy who signs the paychecks sings the new tune, I will listen.
Until then, Im not gonna take the word of a guy who is payed to lie for Redmond. But I would like to hear more about his blue bubble theory. He has great imagination.

I hope Brad took some notes about the GPL while he was there, it seems that Redmond has problems understanding it according to their official bloggers.

I love the innocence of his '"What gives me pause is the premise that...Microsoft should make its intellectual property expensive or free, but not cheap."
So sweet in its feigned ignorance.
Even if its 25 cents, its still extortion for something they havent proved. We are not haggling over price but over an important principle of open source.

If someome kidnaps your family and asks for 10$ instead of 10 million ransom, is there a differenc? Again, nothing to do with how much they want but rather refusing to submit to the Microsoft tax/extortion/threats.
.
I dont want/need/care about Microsoft opening their big money makers but show me ONE true open source (and by that I mean GPLed, none of these BS shared things) project, no matter how small, that they are willing to take part in like other companies like IBM do and I'll listen.
Im old enough to remember when IBM was the evil empire and I have no problems with them being part of open source projects. Why? Because they follow the same rules as the others. Microsoft wants to be 'open source' but on their terms which is like being a little pregnant..

[Matt Asay]

I think they need to start small. When I was at Novell, we started with a UDDI server. Very small. Very tactical. It had no impact on the market whatsoever. What it *did* do was give Novell some experience with releasing code as open source. Not net new code. Existing code. Microsoft could do the same. The tools division would be a good place to look.

[jrepenning]

Microsoft ... patents ... innovation ... trying to fit all three into a single coherent sentence ... think think think ...

Got it, got it: perhaps Microsoft is so fond of patents because they provide a tangible entity they can buy (or otherwise acquire), after someone else does the innovation?