Microsoft and Its Open-Source Gambit

Put on those tinfoil beanies; the Borg Collective's Open Source Census probe is re-entering our quadrant with cloaking enabled. Its hovering closer and closer......

Quoting:Indeed, some say part of Microsoft's overall strategy with its open-source support is to participate in different projects and efforts so as to gain intelligence about the open-source world the company must compete with.

'Microsoft' and 'gaining intelligence' in one sentence? My intelligence just told me in confidence that that's not plausible though it cannot be proven false at this time.

Wow rijelkentaurus, that's a mouthful..

;-)

What I was saying could have been misinterpreted, and could have offended a few people. Better to delete it, rather then teeing people off for no reason. Teeing them off for a reason, however, is a different story. :)

Well you teed me off, I just can't stand people not saying anything ;)

Yeah!

How good of an argument can you have without some good ammunition to work with anyway?

Wait, let me rephrase that..

Scott, that goes back to a recent thread, I think...I seem to recall talk of guns and blowing stuff up.....

Quoting: Well you teed me off, I just can't stand people not saying anything ;)

hkwint said:

Quoting:"Microsoft' and 'gaining intelligence' in one sentence? My intelligence just told me in confidence that that's not plausible though it cannot be proven false at this time."

Well, if there is a fixed amount of intelligence and stupidity in the world, Microsoft seems to be hoarding the stupidity to itself, leaving more intelligence free for the rest of the world!

Quoting:"Microsoft' and 'gaining intelligence' in one sentence? My intelligence just told me in confidence that that's not plausible though it cannot be proven false at this time."

Nonsense! It's incredibly easy to increase your supply of something that you currently have none of. Therefore, 'gaining intelligence', for Microsoft, should be as easy as falling off a log.

@number6x:

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." -- Albert Einstein

I guess I have to take the contrarian view, first the premise of the article is misdirected. MS had no need to join officially to gain intelligence. That could and probably was done by individuals acting in MS's behalf. Therefore, the purpose is more PR and perhaps to see what mischief they can cause while being members in good standing of groups supporting openness.

I think it is dangerous to under rate a foe. MS has done many stupid things, however, given their goals they have been surprisingly successful. Moreover, many employees (even those that share the corporate goals) individually are far from being stupid. Therefore, do not be too quick to disparage, because the comfort it gives could lead to not acting in a timely fashion to subvert their plans. I think it wiser to consider them a worthy opponent that can be crafty, even when employing brute force.

Damn! Another serious post.