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● 10.18.07

●● Other Reasons for Microsoft to Invade the Linux and Open Source Worlds

Posted in Free/Libre Software, Microsoft, Novell, OSI, Steve Ballmer, Xen at 11:48 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

A few days ago we saw Microsoft successfully invading the OSI. This came a couple of weeks after Steve Ballmer had said that he wants all open source to happen on top Windows (with no planned support for other platforms).

=> ↺ successfully invading the OSI | ↺ he wants all open source to happen on top Windows | ↺ no planned support for other platforms

Mind the following bits of news. Microsoft now independently says that it plans many small acquisitions and Steve Ballmer has just saed that Microsoft will buy open source companies.

=> ↺ plans many small acquisitions | ↺ Microsoft will buy open source companies

“We will do some buying of companies that are built around open-source products,” Ballmer said during an onstage interview at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco.

They have already (virtually) snatched XenSource for half a billion dollars, using the Citrix proxy. They had put some Microsoft execs inside XenSource before that acquisition was made. Also mind the following new article:

=> ↺ snatched XenSource for half a billion dollars | ↺ the following new article

Dan Kusnetzky: If we look at Citrix’s portfolio, every single piece, service or product offering is matched by something Microsoft is pushing now. That, in essence, means that Microsoft is trying to acquire the business Over 800,000 High Quality Domains Available For Your Business. Click Here. that Citrix has and slowly remove Citrix from the limelight and off to the sidelines. … needed a broader strategy, one that wasn’t focused solely on access mechanisms. The acquisition of XenSource gives them a broader story.

“We have already seen how Novell was used by Microsoft to affect the GPL, patent FUD, virtualisation, and OOXML.”Microsoft cannot compete, so it buys out the competition. This is classic abuse of monopoly power through elimination of rivals (Linux primarily). Proxy strategies are evasive and the FTC won’t spot them, either. Instead of producing software to rival threats, Microsoft wants to acquire the threats and then never have to compete against them. It was months ago that a Microsoft executive admitted that Microsoft does not usually develop software; it buys it instead.

So, what have we here at the end of the day? Someone that fears virtualisation, which is a disruptive trend by all means, snatched XenSource (by proxy), made a deal with a company that brings open source software to Windows, and paid Zend to optimise PHP for Windows (at the expense of Linux, i.e. discrimination by acquisition).

This is all happening just days after the Microsoft ‘Trojan horse’ entered the Open Source Initiative (OSI) with its own self-serving licences (and quite possibly, Microsoft board members to join and influence the OSI). We have already seen how Novell was used by Microsoft to affect the GPL, patent FUD, virtualisation, and OOXML.

What will it be now that OSI has surrendered to Microsoft? And why is Bruce Perens keeping so quiet on this issue (I did raise the question in his site yesterday, but he never uttered a word)?

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