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Gentoo Founder on his way to Redmond
Posted by
timothy
on Mon Jun 13, 2005 06:33 PM
from the ms-could-be-the-world's-largest-foss-company dept.
from the ms-could-be-the-world's-largest-foss-company dept.
Rotworm writes "Recently former founder of Gentoo Linux, Daniel Robbins, has managed to procure employment with Microsoft. Robbins describes his position as "helping Microsoft to understand Open Source and community-based projects." Seemingly there's no scandals as Robbins managed to finalize the transfer of all Gentoo's IP to the Gentoo Foundation, Inc."
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Gentoo Founder on his way to Redmond
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hmm... (Score:3, Interesting)
(http://www.minirank.com/)
Re:hmm... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:hmm... (Score:5, Funny)
>
> He's probably going to kill younglings.
Hmm...
Do I reply with "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" or "It's a TRAP!". Decisions, decisions...
Decisions, decisions, decisions, decisions, decisions [ ... ] decisions! Decisions! I! LOVE! THIS! DISTRO!
Re:hmm... (Score:4, Funny)
Re:hmm... (Score:5, Insightful)
As a seriously busy individual, he always took time out to talk to the little guy.
Unfortunately, his work with Gentoo never paid the bills enough for him to rely upon it.
How can you possibly insult someone that has a family to support, and bills to pay? He has paid his dues!
I hope Daniel Robbins will take his customary brilliance to Microsoft and do great things. Of all corporations that need a breath of fresh air, Microsoft is foremost. Business Model reinvention la? Perhaps we can look forward to new Microsoft products being GPL'd
Good luck Daniel!
The question was about the riders (Score:5, Insightful)
(http://myatomic.com/ | Last Journal: Sunday November 19 2006, @12:31AM)
A lot of times, things are "tied" together in contracts between an individual and a large corporation. Commonly, a single employment contract will cover hiring the employee, granting permission for employee to enter employer's premises, granting clearance to trade secrets (and a covenant not to disclose them to third parties without express permission), and granting an assignment or work-for-hire setup for the employer to use any copyright, patent, trademark, or trade secret created by the employee using employer's resources. The trouble comes when employers insist on BS riders such as broad non-compete agreements or broad "all your idea are belong to us" IP-grabs that cover works and inventions developed by the employee entirely using the employee's resources.
Re:hmm... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:hmm... (Score:5, Funny)
(http://people.clemson.edu/~bmcalis)
Re:hmm... (Score:5, Funny)
MS dont give out free lunches... (Score:5, Interesting)
He will be brought on board to continue the MS strategy of embrace, extend (in a proprietary fashion) then replace. MS do not want to support linux in any way, they want to kill it. Dead. Every linux box sold represents money ripped from their pocket.
My guess is that this could be something like:
- get linux to run well on MS virtual machines, so linux can become just an app running under 2k3, and therefore slowely sink into oblivion.
- work on their command line tools [slashdot.org]. Looks like they have finally realised that the {Li,U}n{u,i}x way of providing powerful command line utilities is actually pretty useful (perhaps learned from the struggle [securityoffice.net] when they first tried to convert hotmail to NT
Interesting times ahead.
Re:MS dont give out free lunches... (Score:4, Insightful)
Microsoft cares a lot about money, but they care much more about saturation. If the market is completely saturated by Windows, everyone will use Windows because everyone uses Windows. That's why Microsoft is letting Indonesia [slashdot.org] pick up Windows for a buck a pop. They don't just care about the money, they care about getting as many people to use Windows as they can. Once they're in a dominant position they leverage that to extort exorbitant fees for their software from certain customers.
It's the ends and means for Microsoft. Imagine Steve Ballmer screaming "UNLIMITED POWWWWWERRR!!!" as he eletrocutes Linus Torvalds and throws him out a window with the Force. That's Microsoft's view of things.
Re:hmm... (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Friday August 31, @07:08PM)
Section 2B - Contractee will also instruct Microsoft Corporation (C)(TM) on the use and operation of the computer program known as 'cvs'.
Woah (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.fallingbullets.com/)
Do they ship cluebats freight? I guess they do now.
When in doubt (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://www.e3servers.com/ | Last Journal: Thursday January 26 2006, @12:17PM)
Is this the beginning of a strategy for Microsoft? Can't beat them, just buy them or the lead developer?
Re:When in doubt (Score:5, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Saturday October 20, @06:40PM)
Free Software is free as in freedom... but it is also free as in beer so these people *really* need to get their green paste from somewhere...
Or, you really did think that those "donations" where enough to live?
Re:When in doubt (Score:5, Interesting)
Plus, the "change things from the inside" thing isn't new either. The MS Macintosh Business Unit, formerly MS Bay, consisted primarily of Mac shareware and commercial SW developers who had been hired to work on Mac Office and Mac IE. These were guys who thought, ate, drank, and slept "Different." They are the reason Mac Office tends to leapfrog Windows Office in features and overall quality with every release, and also why IE on the Mac didn't suck. Anyway, even these guys ended up chugging the Kool-Aid - when Apple started releasing competitive products (most recently Safari), these guys acted as if it was their God-given right to be the exclusive developers of these types of software, going on record in the Mac press, denouncing Apple for daring to create competing products. Somehow they'd gotten into the MS mindset of expecting that their (MS's) stuff was supposed to be the only stuff around to support the OS, or to be treated as first-class citizens. The difference was that Apple didn't have to support this same opinion.
Back on-topic a bit, I think the gentards have nothing to worry or be ashamed about. Even though he'll probably turn with time, this isn't a pride thing. Maybe he just needs to eat, and wants to use his skills as a means towards that goal (shocking!). Who knows, maybe working for the bad guys really will change them for the better.
Good luck! (Score:5, Funny)
(http://slashdot.org/)
I hope he is successful! I'd sure like to see Windows users have to emerge msoffice2k3 and wait for six days.
Re:Good luck! (Score:5, Funny)
(http://slashdot.org/~joe_bruin/ | Last Journal: Wednesday April 14 2004, @09:25PM)
YOU HAVE NO CHANCE TO SURVIVE MAKE YOUR TIME (Score:5, Funny)
Sweet Job! (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.digitalpimp.net/ThePimp/)
Dr Who (Score:5, Funny)
(http://lkcl.net/)
the game-shows where losers are beamed up to the Dalek Mothership?
EXTERMINATE!
EXTERMINATE!
Linuxsoft (Score:3, Funny)
(http://www.rotworm.com/ | Last Journal: Tuesday April 27 2004, @11:14AM)
Wow, what a short article (Score:3, Interesting)
Seriously, I hope he didn't accept low pay with the promise of stock options like a lot of Microsoft employees have in the past. The day of the Microsoft made millionnaires is over.
Re:ok (Score:5, Insightful)
No, what they are trying to do is to break up the opensource community by hiring all the top talent. If they hire the top leaders and put them in project s that never see the light of day, then they don't have to worry about them as competitors to MS. It is worth the million or two in salary to get a top guy. The get the facts ad campaign probably is less effective than buying the top guys out.
MS has a history of doing it. They hired away all the top talent at Borland. They hired COM guru Don Box, which in my opinion was to get him on board with
Re:ok (Score:4, Interesting)
(http://babelfish.alt...%2F%2Fslashdot.jp%2F)
Which can be summed up as
"Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer"
Surprised no-one else quoted that one first....
Kamikaze (Score:3, Insightful)
(http://www.illuminatingscience.org/)
I think Microsoft already understand Open Source projects - and, quite obviously and unsurprisingly, they don't like them. Justifiable from a business perspective, crap from (almost) everyone else's perspective, and I have trouble seeing what change he could bring in Microsoft.
Unless of course he's got several kilograms of TNT strapped to his chest when he has his first meeting with Bill :)
Former Founder? (Score:5, Insightful)
(Last Journal: Tuesday August 31 2004, @08:05PM)
How can someone be a former founder? Once you found something, that's it, you always will have been the founder, right? I mean the Founding Fathers of America aren't the Former Founding Fathers - they are still the Founding Fathers even though they are all dead, and don't take much of an active interest in the affairs of the country anymore.
-If
Re:Former Founder? (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.slashdot.org/)
Just an incorrect paraphrasing from the original article.
This is bad (Score:5, Insightful)
Microsoft is not going to do that. They want to know everything about open source because the want to compete with it, ie: beat us. It'd be nicer if Microsoft used this help to collaborate with opensource better, opensource things, etc etc.
Bad moderation (Score:5, Insightful)
BillG is a smart guy who surrounds himself with smart guys. MS started out of a motel room in New Mexico and didn't become a near monopoly solely out of luck any more than it did out of sheer creativity. MS is huge for a few important reasons:
1. They recognise opportunities and make maximum use of their resources and connections. MS became the "king of programming languages" for micros inthe 70s and 80s because BillG immediately saw the potential of the Altair and the desperate need for a friendlier method of programming the system. They also used their connections and networking skills to arrange a meeting with IBM re. DOS as well as to locate and purchase QDOS.
2. They are a bit sneaky--they will sell something they don't even have yet (DOS) and create demoware/vapourware to stall and kill competition in a field where they are lacking (GO/pen computing/etc--"they might have it now, but big ol' MS is gonna have it REAL SOON NOW"--yeah right).
3. THEY RESEARCH THEIR COMPETITON--MS has historically been very paranoid. Even with their position today they view EVERY competitior as one who could destroy them. When MS plays in a market they research EVERY LITTLE THING about that market and EVERY COMPETITOR. BillG himself operates that way. If he meets someone who has something interesting to talk about but BillG knows nothing about it, BillG will spend every waking moment for a couple days learning about the subject. The next time he meets that person he can talk with that person like he is a seasoned expert.
It is for that third reason why MS has a whole department of Open Source Specialists in its employ and has had for years. It is also how the Halloween Memos came to be. It doesn't matter how badly MS slags Linux or how much it scoffs at Free software--it has ALWAYS apporached it as competition with the potential to destroy Microsoft. I'm willing to bet it's been on BillG's personal radar for a decade already (when MS was just starting to realise the Internet was a game they had to play).
So the parent to this post is exactly right: MS is essentially "stockpiling ammunition" for the battle with Free software. How they will use the knowledge and people they acquire could go many ways:
1. They could use it to make their FUD sound more credible--for example, some weakness in Linux to exploit in the "get the facts" campaign or items to avoid or downplay where Linux has the advantage.
2. MS operates by acquisition, not innovation. They might have to avoid GPL code to keep its code secret, but it can at least steal IDEAS from GNU apps. It is also already well known they've lifted BSD code many times. This is OK though--at least MS software gets better as a result.
3. If they CAN'T beat Free software, they'll be prepared to "join" it. It may be a cold day in hell before MS Office is open, but if Linux meets or beats Apple's market share and all indications are that it won't go away, MS will be prepared to form a "Linux business unit" to port Office and other apps to the platform. It won't be "Free/Libre", but if MS dominates application software for Linux it can steer the platform and continue to be the industry's biggest player. This is what they have done with Apple--Microsoft is the biggest vendor of MacOS applications, and stunning industrial design aside, Macs are becoming more and more PC-like.
Yep it would be nice if MS was more cooperative, but it is just too far from their business model. MS NEEDS software to be closed or else it would have to completely re-invent itself. It is simply easier for it to try and make the competition work to its advantage or simply go away.
Anakin (Score:5, Funny)
Alternate pathway (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Isn't this... (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.reversefold.com/)
It's gonna take them a while... (Score:3, Funny)
"Today, class, we're going to learn about kde..."
"Err, Mr Robbins sir, is this going to take much longer? I gotta go pee"
Microsoft uses PPC, Apple uses Intel, now this ? (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Monday January 23 2006, @12:19PM)
Re:Microsoft uses PPC, Apple uses Intel, now this (Score:5, Funny)
(Last Journal: Saturday January 13 2007, @02:19AM)
I wish him well (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyone else notice that this isn't the first ABQ->Redmond migration for a "distribution" founder?
Quick, we can still rescue him! (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.users.qwest.net/~waffleck-asch/ | Last Journal: Wednesday November 07, @04:46PM)
Who's with me?
A small daring group is all it will take to rescue the founder of Gentoo - with luck on our side, skill, daring, and the element of surprise, we should be able to pull this off before the Empire gets him into Darth Gates compound!
can't wait! (Score:4, Funny)
It is very sad that he could not make money (Score:5, Informative)
(http://www.namesys.com/)
His approach was technically superior to the other distros in its fundamental approach, and funding could have cured any detail problems. It was the right approach. He went broke, and we should all be sad at this.
The nice thing would have been if some government had funded him. None did.
Thus he works for Microsoft. I imagine he is sadly bitter about it all.
Namesys is also having payroll problems, though our problem is more due to my divorce than anything else.
Hans
(Author of Reiser4)
Re:It is very sad that he could not make money (Score:4, Funny)
(http://lefttochance.com/)
Perhaps if you would have paid more attention to her than that damn code!
me: one ticket to hell please...
bo (+2 Funny?)
Re:It is very sad that he could not make money (Score:5, Funny)
(http://www.namesys.com/)
I like the code more. It is certainly more beautiful, and perhaps more useful too....
Re:It is very sad that he could not make money (Score:4, Funny)
Re:It is very sad that he could not make money (Score:4, Insightful)
(http://www.tenshu.net/ | Last Journal: Tuesday June 17 2003, @05:26PM)
It was Daniel that failed to make it work, the community is under no obligation to provide any finances - if he wanted to put such an obligation on them chosing open source was a bit of a mistake
I have to say that from what I've seen of ebuilds and the like, it's a seriously cheesy bunch of hacks that really have no place in anything that intends to use words like "money" or "professional"
Why would a government fund something like Gentoo? There are distros out there that actually have paying customers, they are in a far better position to service any government needs than a bunch of whinging 15 year olds on a forum
You can't be bitter about this stuff though - everyone walks into Open Source development with their eyes open, if you then choose to feel that people owe you, or you deserved better; that's your problem. Your code is the contribution and the reward, anything else is a bonus imho.
Sorry to hear that namesys is having problems, I hope they get resolved soon.
Ooooook, *scary* (Score:5, Funny)
- Apple goes x86,
- Debian releases new stable,
- Deep Throat reveals himself,
- Robbins works for Microsoft.
Seriously, what's next? Stallman stating "Meh, GCC takes forever; i'll just buy some software at Walmart"? Duke Nukem Forever going gold? The Bitboys compiting with nVidia? Microsoft releasing the source for Internet Explorer?
Cut this shit already. Please. It's not funny anymore!
skunk works (Score:3, Interesting)
(http://technocrat.net/ | Last Journal: Thursday November 15, @03:58PM)
Just like apple maintaining an x86 OSX branch for years, "just in case" is a reality that sometimes proves to be useful when you least suspect it.
So then MS therefore needs d00ds who have a proven track record of original thought as opposed to drudge work. A company needs both kinds, but it has to start with original thinkers before the hard working drudgework drones take over.
obligatory nazi analogy (Score:3, Interesting)
you can't *quite* get away with that in corporate america just yet, but the next best thing, when you have X*10 billion dollars in the bank getting moldy, is just to hire them away.
sorry to interrupt all the guffawin' and shuckin' and jivin'. carry on with the lame star wars references and other assorted jokery.