[svlug] Microsoft exec says there is no such this as Free Software

[Christian Einfeldt]

hi

On Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 10:30 AM, Jarl Nilsson <svlug at thinkgland.com> wrote:

>  Free software is about freedom of thought.  If we think our ideas are
> better than their ideas, then we should engage anyone who is in the software
> business.
>

Mark Shuttleworth said this exact same thing last night at the BALUG meeting
in Chinatown here in SF.  So I recognize that there is a good logic to this
position.

My primary concern is that Microsoft is using its mere presence to divide
people.  My prime example of that phenomenon is the Novell deal.  While the
Novell deal was suboptimal in many respects, it was not as bad as everything
that some people like my friend Roy Schestowitz made out.  Roy runs the site
"Boycott Novell" and he is (incorrectly) seen as shrill by many people.  Roy
is a reasonable person, but many people misinterpret his writing as being
divisive, and so we end up with people who could be collaborating shouting
at each other.

As Mark Shuttleworth said last night at the BALUG meeting, our primary asset
is our ability to collaborate.  My concern is that wherever Microsoft
representatives show up, division happens between us.  For example, some
people (not Roy) call Miguel de Icaza a traitor for his work on Mono and
Moonlight and his statement that OOXML is a "superb standard".  While I
certainly would not agree with Miguel that OOXML is a "superb standards"
because it is not really open, I think that Miguel has really contributed a
lot to Free Software with GNOME and Ximian.  Likewise, Novell has
contributed lots of code, including drivers that no one else wanted to
code.  And yet, both Novell and Miguel are attacked as having "sold out" to
the borg.

Microsoft has brilliantly seen that it cannot buy Free Software, but it has
brilliant understood that it can weaken the energy of the social movement
aspect a bit by causing infighting.  Governments and businesses have long
used these same tactics in breaking up movements for social freedom by
cozying up with some segments of the movement, thereby fragmenting the
movement.  It is a tried and true method.  By discouraging the participation
of Microsoft executives such as Jason Matusow and Sam Ramji, we can slow
down Microsoft's plan to divide us.

Also, Microsoft really has nothing to offer us, in the long run.  It will
not free its source code.  After all is said and done, control over the
source code is what really matters.  If Microsoft is not willing to engage
on that level, they are not serious, and don't really deserve our time.
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