Date: Thu, 05 Nov 1998 21:44:36 -0700 From: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com> To: freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Cc: miker@cnet.com Subject: Halloween memo - what does it mean? Message-ID: <36427EB4.AABA1891@softweyr.com>
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I have just re-read several portions of the "Halloween Memo," and
some of the on-line media coverage of it. While wading through all
of the hooplah, I came across a nugget of wisdom in a C|Net article
entitled "Memo angers open source advocates," in which writer Mike
Ricciuti paraphrases the memo thusly:
"Warning that the growing popularity of Linux and other so-called open
source software (OSS) poses a direct threat to Microsoft's revenue
stream..."
Now how many of us here REALLY believe Microsoft is concerned with
the impact of Linux, Apache, Sendmail, or any other "Open Source
Software" on their bottom line? Show of hands?
Yes, Terry, you may go to the bathroom. Anyone else? I thought not.
So why, you must ask yourself, are we hearing about the "Linux threat"
daily? Why is something that has NEVER before popped up on the radar
screen suddenly become the "talk of the town?" Why do we suddenly
have two memos leaked from one of the most paranoid organizations in
the world, perhaps second only to Intel? Why indeed! What is Microsoft
up to?
The LAWSUIT, dummy!
I wonder how Mr. Raymond is going to feel, when he wakes up after all
this is over, faced with his real position in this global power play.
The Microsoft PR engine, recognizing Mr. Raymond for his rabid
advocacy and limited foresight, has played him like a Stradivarius.
They don't even have to conduct the campaign themselves; all they
have to do is conjure up a fake memo each week, "leak" it to their
unwitting friend Snark, and let him tell the entire Internet and
hence the world that Linux is going to clobber Microsoft and render
them monopoly-less.
And that is the point of all this, is it not: Microsoft cannot have
a MONOPOLY on desktop computing because all those rabid Linux fans
out there are giving away their system, right?
I can't wait to see what next week's memo will bring. Another
internal memo describing how IE 5.0 will recognize Apache and Netscape
web servers and respond slower to them, making them look less responsive?
(Oh, that's right, IE 4.0 *already does this.*) Extensions to
Exchange that make it incompatible with mail clients from Netscape
and Eudora. But that's already public policy, leaked in this week's
memo. Boy, you never know what "innovation" those Microsoft product
planners will come up with next, do you?
--
"Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"
Wes Peters Softweyr LLC
http://www.softweyr.com/~softweyr wes@softweyr.com
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