| Microsoft's May Day manifesto |
May 08, 2001
ZDNet columnist Leibovitch ponders Microsoft's recent "May Day Manifesto" -- and wonders if anyone really cares what the software giant has to say on the subject of open source and the GPL . . .
Sometimes we journalists have a habit of talking to other journalists to get an insider's view of the events around us. Such was the case early this week when a newspaper asked for my comments on a recent speech by Craig Mundie, Microsoft's senior vice president of advanced technologies.
In the speech, given May 3 at New York University's Stern School of Business, Mundie attacked open source in a whole bunch of ways while advancing the vision of a kinder and gentler Microsoft, and its "Shared Philosophy."
In explaining the philosophy, Mundie tried to show that Redmond understands the benefits of building a community around access to source code, while putting such strict limits on the code that the access is of extremely limited value.
Before speaking to the newspaper, I went directly to Microsoft's Web site to reread the speech. After thinking about it, I had only three words to offer my newspaper-bound colleague: "Same old crud."
I've read Mundie's words over a few times and still can't think of a better description. Oh, sure, if you want to read reaction from within the open-source community, you'll have no problem finding it. It seemed as if everyone with an opinion on anything open source had something to say, from LinuxFreak.org to Linus himself. Heck, Eric Raymond -- never one to shy from a spotlight -- was weighing in the day before Mundie even said anything!
Then, of course, there were the seemingly mandatory descriptions of a declaration of war. Can't be an interesting story in the computer world without a war, can there?
I can't see why everyone's getting tied up in knots. Mundie's comments are a simple and logical extension of Microsoft's "embrace and extend" position on open source -- a position that existed even before the Halloween document came into public view in 1998. The attempts to call attention to Linux forking and to the fact that potential security holes are open for anyone to see aren't anything new either.
Then there's the requisite "be scared of the GPL" talk that had been a part of Microsoft's strategy for some time before Mundie spoke. Besides the introduction of the term "Shared Source," the only new content I found in the speech was Mundie's use of the point that countless others, myself included, have understood for years -- that the use of open source requires innovative business models, and that Microsoft's model of charging for software won't work when applied to open source. That was no surprise. But I can't believe that anyone really cares about Microsoft's analysis of the open-source business model. Do you trust Ford to tell you how good Chevrolet is?
No, this is indeed the same old you-know-what.
What did strike me as interesting about the speech, however, was its tone. It wasn't a calm, dispassionate dismissal of open source. Instead, the speech came across as an attack, as if Microsoft feels the desperate need to discount what people see around them -- that open-source software is doing real and solid computing work for an ever-growing number of computer users, big and small.
In the current climate, Mundie's message is more difficult than ever to get across. Microsoft's credibility has taken a severe beating, thanks to the antitrust trial. Companies such IBM and SGI that have been looking for Microsoft alternatives have found one in Linux. Microsoft simply can't deny what people and vendors can see for themselves.
But amid all the posturing, it was the futility of Mundie's message that was most interesting. While Microsoft won't need to panic any time soon, Mundie's speech exhibited more fear than it spread. In some of the rebuttals from the Linux faithful, one could almost sense they were smelling blood -- that Linux is still something Microsoft doesn't get, and thus Linux fans will continue to gain ground. While I agree with sentiments that Linux folks shouldn't get too cocky in their responses, I still get the feeling deep down that Redmond just doesn't understand that its conventional attack methods aren't working.
Given the timing of Mundie's speech, one might be tempted to link it to the May Day holiday practiced in some socialist countries and celebrated by trade unions. What an irony that would be, eh?
But on reflection, I wonder if it's more appropriate, all things considered, to associate this speech with the nautical definition of mayday instead.
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