Finding Microsoft's soul in search and open source

March 27 2007

BusinessWeek has a great article on Microsoft’s recent stumbles in online search. It’s reflective of Microsoft’s - and, indeed, any successful company’s - attempts to cast itself in a new mold. If Microsoft can’t keep pace, it risks seeing its Windows and Office software franchises erode as Google and others launch… read more

Is Microsoft the cathedral? Is open source the bazaar?

March 26 2007

Open source is not as open as it claims, and Microsoft is not as closed as is claimed. Thus spake Brad Abrams, group program manager for ASP.NET AJAX at Microsoft. Abrams argued that Microsoft is not the cathedral when it comes to ASP.NET AJAX but is quite transparent. Furthermore, he stated… read more

Microsoft: Tough slog online

March 26 2007

As Paul Kedrosky is reporting, Microsoft continues to struggle with its online strategy. This is further evidence that Microsoft needs to look forward, rather than trying to tie everything into its history. The way forward is by burning the boats, not by continuously plugging the holes in those boats. Microsoft… read more

Microsoft + GPL = Match made in heaven

March 21 2007

Microsoft has taken an increasingly warm approach to open source. It’s not going to revolutionize the company tomorrow, but Bill Hilf and others are successfully nudging the company toward greater and greater experiments with open source. Since the company will eventually get to an open source model, or die fighting it,… read more

FoxPro going to CodePlex (i.e., going open source!)

March 19 2007

In what might be a minor move at any other company, Microsoft’s decision to move FoxPro to its CodePlex open source site is big news. And good news, too, in my opinion (one that I share with Jason Matusow, apparently.) Why is it big news? An increasing number of companies have… read more

Microsoft: Please steal from us

March 14 2007

In a sign that Microsoft finally feels the faintest stirrings of an open source business model, Jeff Raikes has gone on the record as asking people to steal from Microsoft if they’re going to pirate/steal from anyone. Now, in the open source world we don’t call using software for free… read more

Redmond opening up to open source

March 13 2007

Redmond Magazine has a great article on Microsoft’s changing perspective on open source, featuring Bill HIlf as one of the key drivers of this change. I know and respect Bill, and agree heartily with the article’s conclusions: When Bill Hilf came from IBM Corp. to join Microsoft three years ago, the… read more

Intellectual property 2.0?

March 11 2007

I was talking tonight with a friend that manages the medical arm of a large humanitarian organization. We were talking about poverty and he suggested that there are basically three things necessary to enable people to pull themselves out of poverty: Food and water. It’s difficult to worry about building… read more

Microsoft, self-appointed guardian of the crown jewels

March 08 2007

I wrote on this topic earlier this week, but my post is lost in the ether(net) somewhere. I can’t help but notice that Microsoft is working hard of late to shroud itself in protectionist robes of the holiest color. First it was a battle for the sanctity of its patents.… read more

A need for transparency

March 07 2007

I just spent an interesting and productive hour with Matthew Aslett of the Computer Business Review. Matthew writes one of the most interesting blogs on open source, so we met to talk about the state of the open source market. In the course of our conversation, we talked about Microsoft… read more

Microsoft censorship

March 07 2007

Yesterday I wrote a long harangue of Microsoft about its dubious credentials to attack Google. Today, I discovered my post had been removed. Censorship at its best. So, I’ll try again. Microsoft is definitely playing its IP card hard on all fronts. It is threatening Linux, Google (indirectly), and apparently the… read more

Microsoft goes after young blood

March 02 2007

Microsoft continues to show foresight in some areas while distinctly lacking it in others (i.e., the Internet, Web 2.0, search, etc.). As an example of foresight, check out Mary Jo Foley’s coverage of Microsoft’s new Beginner Developer Learning Center. What’s it for? The name says it all: help drive more… read more

Microsoft: Hiring its way into open source(?)

March 02 2007

Hank Janssen may not be drinking the Microsoft Kool-Aid, but he’s certainly jazzed about his work at the company. And I was frankly a bit bowled over by something he said: [W]e have been touching a lot of items people never thought a few years ago would be likely. Getting Mozilla… read more

Baking solutions into software

February 27 2007

I had a friend tell me a funny thing today. He suggested that good software would put IT admins out of basis. “The depend on bad software for their jobs,” he laughed. While he was obviously joking, there’s some truth to his comment. If software worked perfectly, there would be… read more

We are all victims of the patent system

February 26 2007

I had a conversation with Bill Hilf not long ago. We were talking about the Microsoft-Novell deal, but the conversation ended much more broadly, discussing the US patent system. It’s the same conversation I’ve had with Jason Matusow, and a range of others both inside and outside of Microsoft. The… read more