Comment of the Day - January 10, 2006 - MS Open Source Point Man - a Dummy

Posted by tadelste on Jan 14, 2006 8:17 PM EDT
LXer.com -Article; By SFN
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SFN writes: I knew I shouldn't have read this but I guess I just can't help myself. As usual, MS - this time throwing it's voice through ventriloquist dummy Martin Gregory - is presenting us with ideas that run the gamut from baseless opinion to bald face lie. Let's take each point one at a time.

Related to:
Microsoft's open source point man

I knew I shouldn't have read this but I guess I just can't help myself. As usual, MS - this time throwing it's voice through ventriloquist dummy Martin Gregory - is presenting us with ideas that run the gamut from baseless opinion to bald face lie. Let's take each point one at a time.



Quoted:
Sure, Linux is free to anyone who cares to download it, but to really deploy it in a company, you are going to go to Novell or Red Hat and pay for support.


Not true. I only run Debian at work. Originally because it was the best way to get a foot in the door with Linux. Once we got used to it, we found that we didn't need support for it. We were getting what we needed. However, should we add a piece in that we will need support for, we have the right to go to a Novell or Red Hat or any number of others to get it. Chioces.



Quoted:
And I guess the open source debate has been very emotional and had a lot of combative language in it, and I think the approach we’ve been on for the last 18 months has been to encourage people to make it a data-driven decision.




The "Get The Facts" campaign has been about spreading lies in order to make Windows look good and Linux look bad. The closest that campaign has come to encouraging people to make a data-driven decision is by providing people with false data.



Quoted:
You get one or the other. Either a product that’s designed with smooth surfaces where things are integrated and work together, or where you pay for that integration another way … through your own time or through paying for service contracts.


This is true. However Windows, while being a product that is sold as "designed with smooth surfaces where things are integrated and work together" really only has smooth surfaces. Lots and lots and LOTS of things don't work together in Windows. That is, of course, unless you buy every single app you use from Microsoft.

Oh! I get it! If I buy any particular app from anyone else, I've broken the chain and therefore am not entitled to have things work together. My bad.



Quoted:
From a commercial software position, it’s critical you understand your customers, and design and build what they need. And it’s important there’s consistency and a measure of quality. We have things like the Windows Hardware Quality Labs, and that kind of infrastructure takes a lot of time and effort to build.


If measure of quality is so imprtant, then why is it that vulnerabilities and stability continue to be an issue for Windows?

Certainly one could argue that XP is more stable than 2000 and MUCH more stable than 98. While that may be true, it sounds an awful "it's cleaner than it was" when telling your teenager to clean his/her room.

As for vulnerabilities, although Microsoft claims it's less vulnerable than Linux, it's simply not true. Anyone who has managed both Operating System at the same time knows that.



Quoted:
In my mind, it’s been “the year of Linux on the desktop” for three years and I haven’t really seen much actual traction there.


I guess I do have to cut him some slack here. The interviewer did ask him what his opinion was. However, the notion that it's been "the year of Linux on the desktop" for three years can best be described as frickin' ludicrous. Remember, just because a headline exists doesn't make the story true.

[in response to "Is every customer going to use a Windows desktop?"]


Quoted:
No, but I would like to understand the motivation behind a decision to consider using Linux on the desktop, as my experience is that customers fundamentally want to make pragmatic decisions about technology.




Brilliantly worded, I must say. The subtext is that anybody who decides to use Linux on the desktop, isn't being pragmatic. The sad part is that the average person is a subtext sponge. They'll take a line like that in and spit it out as their own thought.

Boss: What about Linux?
IT Wonk: Well sir, we want to be pragmatic here......

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