Microsoft Doesn't Care About Destroying Linux 330
techie writes "A latest column on MadPenguin.org suggests that Microsoft may not be really interested in killing Linux for mainstream users. It's after something else, and it's getting its way already. Read on to find out what it is. The author states, "Love it or hate it, Microsoft's IP attacks will continue, Linux user numbers will continue to grow and broad spectrum adoption throughout the rest of the world will grow and flourish. Microsoft's not interested in destroying Linux in the slightest. Why would they? it's been a fantastic vehicle for them to land a firmer grip on the corporations throughout the US."
Bad Headline (Score:2, Informative)
Headline sounds like its saying "Microsoft is killing Linux and doesn't care that it is doing so", while the summary sounds more like what it should be, that "Microsoft is not trying to kill Linux and has no interest in doing so."
*sigh*
So what SCO couldn't do... (Score:2, Informative)
Mad Penguin (Score:2, Informative)
Re:IP = Intellectual Property? (Score:2, Informative)
April 3, 1983 at 4:29EST.
Re:Great, you know what that means (Score:4, Informative)
Microsoft makes its money by controlling the market. Linux allows for multiple vendors to compete in the market (aka capitalism), preventing any one vendor from controlling it. Even if Microsoft could make a boatload of money on Linux, they would never risk their precious (and profitable!) monopoly on the OS market.
Taco, please (Score:4, Informative)
Get this trash of an article off the front page. It's making
That isn't "fragmented". (Score:4, Informative)
But Linux is not "fragmented".
And each of those "clones" works in almost the exact same way.
There is no "fragmentation". Any software that runs on the latest version of RHEL will also run on the latest version of Ubuntu. Or Slackware. etc.
And yet that does not seem to be hampering Linux's growth at all.
So maybe it isn't as big a problem as you believe it to be.
Anyone who knows Red Hat can pick up Ubuntu in less than a day. And Slackware in another day. And Gentoo over a weekend. At which point, you pretty much know every distribution out there.
Re:It's talk, wait for action (Score:3, Informative)
No, because that helps people migrate from MS's tether. What they want is people being further entrenched into MS tech. People considering Linux are migrating away from Windows. Linux is growing at its own pace, but also at the expense of Windows users. I used to be a Windows user, and so did a lot of other Ubuntu and Fedora Core installations. These are the fastest growing community Linux projects because they do a good job of providing an interface that a Windows user can feel familiar with very quickly, and they help migrate users from Windows. Look at ubuntuguide and Fedora FAQ, they answer Linux newbie questions from a Windows-centric point of view. They show common tasks and applications that Windows users would want.
Their long term goal is still to scare businesses away from Linux.
No, their long term goal is to have guaranteed income from each PC user, and further guarantee & increase that income whenever possible.
Re:Linux staff more expensive, harder to replace.. (Score:3, Informative)
Business is drudgery; it's filing papers the proper way, it's following procedures so things do not get out of hand. It's tedious repetitive meaningless work that is best performed by semi-intelligent drones that will never question management rather than by intelligent independent thinkers that always see another way of doing things. It's only the big-shots who get the hookers during intense contract negociations. The little pipsqueaks jerk-off on the couch.
And if you're an intelligent independent thinker, you certainly don't want to indulge in the terminally dullness of business work.