Here is a fascinating map illustrating the “epic struggle of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) against the Empire of Microsoft”. Steven Hilton has updated this recently.
I like the way it depicts…
- the old SCO attack as a FUD attack, now stalled
- the recent Novell-MS deal as a flanking attack, a win by MS
- Firefox advance and its taking of new territory (how true; I’m a convert)
- Google’s attacks that are getting started.
At one level I am impressed to see Microsoft taking on so many people. At another level, I can’t help thinking that they would implode really quick some day.
Hi Sharad,
As again, this is an article that moved me out of my habitual
lethargy. It is good to see that a subject like this appears on
a very popular and widely read blog as yours.
I am no Microsoft hater; however, I belong to those underwhelming no
of software professionls who believe that invading and acquiring
potential and existing users’ minds is a fair game and hence,
competition is inevitable and welcome. However, it has to be a
‘fair’ game, where one should wholeheartedly accept the fact that
equally good alternative to his/her own offering, should be
allowed to emerge and exist, if not already.
MS’s business strategy is - quite unfortunately since they have
very good engineers who are capable of real top-class software - to
undermine, dislodge or annihilate any kind of serious alternatives
that exist, using unquestionably unfair though legal, means.
There have been umpteen number of cases where they have done
so. The latest in that list that I read about was this:
http://www.bluej.org/mrt/?p=21
Please take a look if you have time. These are kind of things
that have made me an Open Source hard-liner over last few years!
It is no wonder that they are being attacked (as the war-map depicts)
from many fronts. Anyone who carries of sense of independence of
thought inside him/her, is bound to react that way. Many times,
I wonder why MS resorts to such abominable tactics, when all
indications are towards their obvious intellectual assets and
capabilities to fight in a fair manner.
I also wonder why in a country like India, where we claim to
be on our destination to be the so-called ‘Software Superpower’
of the world unchallenged, MS rules. I know companies who
simply do not want hear about any alternative. I know people of
high stature in IT industry who have no qualms to claim that
India is on safe path when she follows MS. I also wonder why
there is hardly any Indian contribution of worth a real mention, in
any of the successful Open Source technologies. I would like
to see you touching upon these points in one of your blogposts
in near future.
Nirmalya
Hi Nirmalya - Nice thoughtful comment – appreciate that! You raise several good points.
1. I don’t hold much hope for corporations doing “good” when they accumulate market power. They, like individuals, tend to misuse their clout. In the case of MS, it’s not so much the market that failed but the US anti-trust system. Europeans and Koreans seem to be trying to rectify that.
2. I looked up the BlueJ blog. It’s nice. Thanks for the pointer.
3. You raise a good issue about the tepid embrace of Open Source in India. I haven’t fully figured out why.
Sharad,
I’ve been wanting to reply to this post from a few perspectives. Sorry for the slow reply.
I submit the Novell-MS deal a chance for Linux to penetrate MS accounts (With Novell seeing itself as leading this area of course). All in all, a potentially great opening for Novell who have been in the doldrums ever since Netware’s slide downwards.
Novell has been working on virtualization for quite a while now. One of the goals was to have the ability to transparently load an executable binary that will execute (it didn’t matter if the binary was a window’s binary or was of netware format or even of Linux/Unix format).
This aligns with their original goal of seamlessly transitioning their customers from NetWare to Linux. Their focus was something like this - having Netware (and Linux) VMs deployed on the customer sites would allow either binaries to run, thus allowing customers to continue running their old NW apps as well as start running Linux packages on the same machine (or cluster/blade) without any impact.
Integrating MS into this story now allows them to provide a “system” that runs Netware, MS & Linux on the same system. The user can choose which one (s)he would like to run depending on their preference. This provides a seamless environment for mixing various applications.
To my mind, the interesting part is that Novell has found uncontested space. Neither will the Linux nor can the MS community step into this space (heresy for Linux folks and it’s those barbarians-at-the-gate for MS) and the space can be pretty large. This has given Novell some wins (e.g. Walmart).
Novell has stated it is committed to Linux for the long term - actually it doesn’t have much choice today since NW is dying.
I am watching this play keenly as this is part of Linux morphing into a mainstream system and coexisting with other systems seamlessly. I believe that if Novell can manage the emotions of the Linux community and stay clear of MSs lawyers, it has something interesting going for itself.