Playground Roughhousing

Too much competition, not enough empathy

Microsoft and Linux Fight in the Press

I've got two small girls at home, and our yard is the neighborhood's playground. I love it; I can look out the window today, just like any other day, and there are kids playing. They're sledding, building snow forts, and swinging back and forth on the oversized swing set.

In our back yard, all the kids, boys and girls, get along well together. They're kind, considerate, and the older kids help the younger ones.

So what happens to change this? What causes us to lose sight of the important things in life: getting along, making friends, things of the heart? I figure we get misdirected and we start focusing on crap like money and status and perceived market share. When this happens, we can easily lose sight of our mission: serve our clients well.

Self-serving arguments are flying in a big way this month between Microsoft and the open source software movement, led in the press by Linux.

Let's get a few things straight - as I see them. Microsoft is not above the law. I judge the Microsoft corporate board would like to think the company is, and they're still fighting the federal anti-trust suit. So, rather than winning in the courtroom, Microsoft is taking their fight to the street using a technique that has, over the last 20 years become their favored tactic: Spread FUD.

FUD, What a Great Word

Here's the first rule about dealing with Microsoft: remember FUD is never the truth. The corollary to this rule is Microsoft's PR machine loves to spread FUD, so be cautious of accepting Microsoft's PR pronouncements as truthful.

Take for example, what Doug Miller said of Linux: "There's very little value in free." Then Steve Ballmer picked up the mantle and said that Linux is the biggest threat facing Microsoft. Now James Allchin says that open source is the "intellectual property destroyer... the worst thing to happen to the software industry" and the thing that "kills innovation."

I'm a bit hesitant to accept all of Microsoft's anti-Linux statements at face value. And so is Matthew J. Szulik, the CEO of Red Hat, Inc., the largest commercial distributor of Linux.

Szulik responds to Microsoft in a recent letter

1. "Linux is an immature product." This is obviously, demonstrably untrue. Linux has been under constant development by a worldwide network of software experts for eight years. It's now captured almost 30 percent of the server market, according to IDC, and continues strong growth. Can an immature product be the OS of choice for 30 percent of the demanding, savvy server market? Linux is a strong, reliable, flexible and solid operating environment that gets better every day. Its security is rated above that of Windows. And the phrase "blue screen of death" does not refer to Linux systems, but rather to the immature Windows products.

2. "Linux threatens Microsoft's core business." That's the gist of what Steve Ballmer said and it's a perceptive comment. Linux and open source do threaten Microsoft at the server operating system level. But even more dangerous, the open source model threatens the core business strategy of Microsoft: domination, monopoly, total control and restricted consumer choices. History has shown that hegemonists and those who restrict freedom ultimately fail. Microsoft is on the wrong side of history.

3. "Open source destroys intellectual property ... kills innovation." This is where I say "I'm rubber, you're glue." It's a bizarre accusation. Open source is creating tremendous intellectual property in software that is copyrighted through the GPL (general public license) every day; the real issue is, who owns it? With open source, the users own it, improve it and share it to everyone's benefit. It's led to the software that runs most of the Internet and powers a third of all server systems already.

With Microsoft's approach, Microsoft owns the intellectual property. As for killing innovation, I'd argue that a worldwide monopoly, enforced by business practices that a federal judge has found to be predatory and anticompetitive probably has more to do with killing innovation than anything the open source movement could ever do.

When you're in a business that's under attack by Microsoft, you have mixed feelings. On one hand, it's nice to know that Linux and open source have grown so much and moved so firmly into the mainstream of computing that mighty Microsoft is scared. But on the other hand, it's troubling to be in a great intellectual debate -– perhaps the most fundamental in the history of computing -– and have to face such specious and unfounded arguments and accusations. Still, the debate is now in full swing and if history is our guide, I know which movement is on the right side. Freedom, access and individual rights always prevail in the long run.

Until I read Matthew Szulik's letter, I was smugly happy that the Linux distributors had kept their heads high and didn't lower their standards to accept Microsoft's taunts.

I'm sick of it all. In the huge world of network operating systems, Windows 2000 has its place, and so does Linux.

IT Trainers: Learn Both Operating Systems

Call for Comments

References

Damar Group, Ltd. helps business use technology.

ITINFO is again accepting sponsors. Sponsor messages are included in ITINFO's email newsletter and are permanently posted to DGL's website and online reference areas.

ITINFO is an electronic publication of Damar Group, Ltd., publisher of Training Express computer learning guides. Comments and submissions to info@dgl.com.

Previous issues are on our website at http://dgl.com/itinfo/.

updated February 27, 2001
http://dgl.com/itinfo/2001/it010227.html

Return to DGL homepage
Copyright © 2001, Damar Group, Ltd., All Rights Reserved