Microsoft's Ballmer: "Linux Requires Our Concentrated Focus and Attention" (LinuxWorld.com)
In this environment of lean budgets and concerns about Microsoft's attention to customers, noncommercial software such as Linux and OpenOffice is seen as an interesting, 'good enough' or 'free' alternative."
Posted Apr 29, 2004 15:40 UTC (Thu)
by mmarsh (subscriber, #17029)
[Link] (4 responses)
Mr. Ballmer seems to be entering the world of stand-up comedy with this one-liner: "We will show that our approach offers better value, better security and better opportunity." The last excerpt contains a sentence that is either a non-sequitor or gross weasel-wording: "In the event of needed enhancements or fixes, the Linux development community, no matter how well intentioned, simply cannot advance Linux the way we can - and must - innovate in Windows." Is he saying that fixing problems in Windows requires significant innovation, while the same thing in Linux does not? If so, I know which horse _I'd_ back.
Posted Apr 29, 2004 19:07 UTC (Thu)
by kasperd (guest, #11842)
[Link]
Posted Apr 29, 2004 23:37 UTC (Thu)
by mmarq (guest, #2332)
[Link]
Not only linux but the entire open source movement, is what M$ dont know how to handle.... , because above are the features that have made impossible to M$ to squach Linux/FOSS like they did to the rest of the competition in the pass... They have not given up,... and projects like XAML/Longhorn and NGSCB/Paladium only show that they are hopping to capture the "WEB", and to lock-in to themselfs the PC hardware platform... Lets make them fail !... (sorry Ballmer, but now if you are worried, Linux/FOSS probabilly will not stop even if you are panic dying... so the choices are clear...).
Posted Apr 30, 2004 9:44 UTC (Fri)
by hingo (guest, #14792)
[Link]
Posted May 1, 2004 13:38 UTC (Sat)
by Dark_Vader (guest, #21304)
[Link]
Posted Apr 29, 2004 16:00 UTC (Thu)
by patriot (guest, #14594)
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Posted Apr 29, 2004 17:35 UTC (Thu)
by garym (guest, #251)
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Posted Apr 29, 2004 17:42 UTC (Thu)
by libra (guest, #2515)
[Link]
They still have a chance if they manage to concentrate on real innovations and real help to the consummers and not on over-proprietrization of things with hope to reduce others ability to advance. So I would advice Mr Ballmer to concentrate his focus on : It seems they are still not ready to follow the right path, it may explain why they fit so well with SUN, though SUN may have more hope than them on those fields.
Posted Apr 29, 2004 17:55 UTC (Thu)
by davidl (guest, #12156)
[Link] (1 responses)
Posted Apr 29, 2004 19:07 UTC (Thu)
by ccchips (subscriber, #3222)
[Link]
Viruses.
Posted Apr 29, 2004 21:28 UTC (Thu)
by giosetti (guest, #21266)
[Link]
Posted Apr 29, 2004 23:03 UTC (Thu)
by gavino (guest, #16214)
[Link] (1 responses)
Posted Apr 30, 2004 4:00 UTC (Fri)
by sitaram (guest, #5959)
[Link]
Gandhi. Not Ghandi!
Posted Apr 30, 2004 17:15 UTC (Fri)
by gvy (guest, #11981)
[Link]
It's nice to see that at least some of the FUD is being directed inward. From the first excerpt, Ballmer's lament that Linux lacks a "'center of gravity,' or central body, investing in the health and growth of noncommercial software or innovating in critical areas like engineering, manageability, compatibility and security," ignores the fact that this is a _feature_, not a bug. We don't _have_ to have a central body providing these things, because _anyone_ can provide and submit them for the review of the community.Microsoft's Ballmer: "Linux Requires Our Concentrated Focus and Attention" (LinuxWorld.com)
The entire list of areas that he thinks require inovation is a joke.
Microsoft's Ballmer: "Linux Requires Our Concentrated Focus and Attention" (LinuxWorld.com)
" Ballmer's lament that Linux lacks a "'center of gravity,' or central body, investing in the health and growth of noncommercial software or innovating in critical areas like engineering, manageability, compatibility and security," ignores the fact that this is a _feature_, not a bug "Microsoft's Ballmer: "Linux Requires Our Concentrated Focus and Attention" (LinuxWorld.com)
I was thinking the same thing. Are they really brainwashing their own employees? Then
again, maybe they should be. It wouldn't look good if their own folks started using
FOSS.
Microsoft's Ballmer: "Linux Requires Our Concentrated Focus and Attention" (LinuxWorld.com)
On the other hand. Maybe this is a memo that was meant to leak? Free advertising so
to speak. It could be, at least it contains all the usual spins that Microsoft is pulling.
The whole open source community lacks innovation. What the community does well is create clones of other commercial products; you would rarely find innovation taking place in the open source community. And the most innovative creations which now have an open source face because they were released under the GPL did not even start as with an intention to create an open source product, but were build by individuals and research groups within universities (who were then not part of the open source community and the motivation was not to create clones). And these innovative creations include Linux, X Windows, PGP and various file systems, databases and various other products.
You find innovation in research groups within universities and commercial organisation but not in the open source community. How ever they do have an extremely good set of programmers who are very good at building clones of innovative applications.
Stop acting like brats whos only motivation is to create Microsoft clones and start digging your heads.
Microsoft's Ballmer: "Linux Requires Our Concentrated Focus and Attention" (LinuxWorld.com)
After the SCO debacle shakes out, Microsoft's relationship with Baystar Capital needs to be investigated for anti-trust violations.
Microsoft's Ballmer: "Linux Requires Our Concentrated Focus and Attention" (LinuxWorld.com)
I see those GoogleAd www.microsoft.ca/getthefacts banners (usually "Open Source News" or some such other joke) are also hitting nearly every page I read on LWN (or is it because I came in from Canada?) so first off, if you want some humour to ponder go look at that, and second, wherever you find these trolls, I hope you all recognize that each time you whack-a-mole one with a click-throught <em>you are 'helping' to nudge Microsoft into financing fine websites like this one!</em>
Get the Facts
It is often said that OSS is lagging behind proprietary software in term of innovations. Here Ballmer just says that they have to concentrate their focus on Linux. I guess he feels that Microsoft is in fact starting to lag behind. Microsoft's Ballmer: "Linux Requires Our Concentrated Focus and Attention" (LinuxWorld.com)
- real innovation (instead of copying and patenting trivialities)
- real added value to their product (instead of over marketing)
- real help to customers (instead of pushing what microsoft want to impose on the market for they own and sole benefit)
- real support to Internet' standards (instead of proprietarization of things)
This is a very old memo. It was written months (if not years) ago.
Microsoft's Ballmer: "Linux Requires Our Concentrated Focus and Attention" (LinuxWorld.com)
Old or not, I have only 1 thing to say.Microsoft's Ballmer: "Linux Requires Our Concentrated Focus and Attention" (LinuxWorld.com)
Blaming Linux for lacking a <i>center of gravity</i> documents once more that Ballmer Microsoft's Ballmer: "Linux Requires Our Concentrated Focus and Attention" (LinuxWorld.com)
misses entirely the point about Linux. Keep on poking in the mist, Ballmer!
Ghandi: "First they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win."
Microsoft's Ballmer: "Linux Requires Our Concentrated Focus and Attention" (LinuxWorld.com)
I think monkeyboy has just stopped laughing.
Please, let's spell the name right :-)Spelling of "Gandhi" [was Microsoft's Ballmer: "Linux Requires Our Concentrated Focus and Attention" (LinuxWorld.com)]
No it doesn't. :-)
"Linux Requires Our Concentrated Focus and Attention" (LinuxWorld.com)