“In the years of the rise of open software and the general open
movement, I have noticed a sense of almost hate in people who
support the open movement, towards companies which don’t, like
Microsoft, etc. A sort of an iron wall has formed between those who
associate themselves with the open movement, and those who don’t.
Why has this wall formed? Why doesn’t a geek want to be associated
with products on the Windows platform? Why do people say, “Hey, I
haven’t booted Windows for the past 8 months!”? Let us take the
example of Microsoft….”
“All the time, Microsoft and the Open Source movement have
placed themselves on two sides of a wall. Both critizise the other
side, are prompt to vehemently pursue any voilations of copyrights,
etc. And both don’t like each other. Microsoft is making a
serious mistake in its approach. How much ever technically good
Windows 2000 ever gets, just how many people are going to try and
use it? How is Microsoft going to get people using Linux and other
open software to convert back to Windows? Surely not by
advertisement. Not by the technical excellence of their product.
No. Maybe few will switch to Windows 2000, but not many will.”
“Microsoft has to change it’s attitude towards people, and
support the movement than taking the other side and compete with
it. If you can’t beat ’em, join them. Work towards a common goal of
bettering the computing experience. And when Microsoft joins the
community, they’ll be a part of it. They’ll be accepted.”