Let's start by saying what everyone is saying. Microsoft has changed their ways right? Things are better now. They want interoperability. They went into an agreement with Novel for that reason! They are releasing software as open source and trying to make things interoperable with their software. They want to advance the software industry... hmmm. I don't think so.
Let's dig a little deeper shall we.
Past transgressions
If you still believe we should give that company a chance to redeem themselves. Take a look at these articles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Microsoft
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_documents
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft
It's not difficult to dig up dirt on this company. I let these articles speak for themselves. The only reason this company is still standing is because of their overwhelming market share. In my opinion these criminal activities should have lost them their support and power from the rest of the world. It's like suing a billionaire scammer for 1 million dollars and letting him carry on with scamming.
Interoperability
Boy what a mouth full. Microsoft is working with Novell and other Linux based companies now to get interoperability with other software. How did they strike this deal? By threatening Linux with patent lawsuits. Effectively they wanted to scare independent software vendors into dropping Linux in order to avoid lawsuits from them. Naughty naughty ms...
Open source strategy
Yeah right. Everyone was shocked when Microsoft made this move. I however knew what the effect was going to be. Microsoft wants to open source code to things that don't really matter, and if those things matter they want to sprinkle it with patents. Is Windows open source? Is Internet explorer open source? Is the .Net framework open source? Is visual studio open source? This software is their vendor lock in stronghold. Until they release the source code for them under unlimited licenses(or GPL like licenses) they have not changed their tune.
So where is Microsoft holding on to it's vendor lock in? The answer is actually not windows, but rather the .Net framework. Some might argue that mono is the answer to that. But mono has not made a significant impact or dent on the amount of Windows .Net developers. .Net suckers millions of developers into an easy to use framework. There's one catch, and this is where the sucker part comes in. .Net is Windows only. .Net changes at such a speed that I don't see a foreseeable way that the mono project can keep up.
But lolz ms gave a lot of money to the Apache foundation! And why do you suppose they do that? The apache license just happens to be very liberal. Microsoft wants to attract (sucker in) php developers to the windows platform. Maybe they can get Apache code to help them with that. I wouldn't be surprised. The Microsoft version of PHP will likely be just as stupid as iron python, which was from what I could tell python syntax shoe horned into .Net.
The conclusion
I know this is a very short article... I will very likely come and update it as my brain catches up with me. The conclusion is that a .Net developer running windows and reading Scott's blog, using SQL Server, Silverlight, and WPF is locked in. That developer actually deprives (him/her)self of the freedom to choose the right technologies, leaving them to shoe horn Microsoft products into every and any problem space. Microsoft has done so much damage in the past and is so wrought with bad noise, I'd rather not support them.
* Disclaimer: I write this article with no claims to facts, but only opinion based on my own knowledge, which may or may not be accurate. The intention of this article is as constructive criticism to the proponents of Microsoft and their customers, and not the company. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.
Let's dig a little deeper shall we.
Past transgressions
If you still believe we should give that company a chance to redeem themselves. Take a look at these articles:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Microsoft
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_documents
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft
It's not difficult to dig up dirt on this company. I let these articles speak for themselves. The only reason this company is still standing is because of their overwhelming market share. In my opinion these criminal activities should have lost them their support and power from the rest of the world. It's like suing a billionaire scammer for 1 million dollars and letting him carry on with scamming.
Interoperability
Boy what a mouth full. Microsoft is working with Novell and other Linux based companies now to get interoperability with other software. How did they strike this deal? By threatening Linux with patent lawsuits. Effectively they wanted to scare independent software vendors into dropping Linux in order to avoid lawsuits from them. Naughty naughty ms...
Open source strategy
Yeah right. Everyone was shocked when Microsoft made this move. I however knew what the effect was going to be. Microsoft wants to open source code to things that don't really matter, and if those things matter they want to sprinkle it with patents. Is Windows open source? Is Internet explorer open source? Is the .Net framework open source? Is visual studio open source? This software is their vendor lock in stronghold. Until they release the source code for them under unlimited licenses(or GPL like licenses) they have not changed their tune.
So where is Microsoft holding on to it's vendor lock in? The answer is actually not windows, but rather the .Net framework. Some might argue that mono is the answer to that. But mono has not made a significant impact or dent on the amount of Windows .Net developers. .Net suckers millions of developers into an easy to use framework. There's one catch, and this is where the sucker part comes in. .Net is Windows only. .Net changes at such a speed that I don't see a foreseeable way that the mono project can keep up.
But lolz ms gave a lot of money to the Apache foundation! And why do you suppose they do that? The apache license just happens to be very liberal. Microsoft wants to attract (sucker in) php developers to the windows platform. Maybe they can get Apache code to help them with that. I wouldn't be surprised. The Microsoft version of PHP will likely be just as stupid as iron python, which was from what I could tell python syntax shoe horned into .Net.
The conclusion
I know this is a very short article... I will very likely come and update it as my brain catches up with me. The conclusion is that a .Net developer running windows and reading Scott's blog, using SQL Server, Silverlight, and WPF is locked in. That developer actually deprives (him/her)self of the freedom to choose the right technologies, leaving them to shoe horn Microsoft products into every and any problem space. Microsoft has done so much damage in the past and is so wrought with bad noise, I'd rather not support them.
* Disclaimer: I write this article with no claims to facts, but only opinion based on my own knowledge, which may or may not be accurate. The intention of this article is as constructive criticism to the proponents of Microsoft and their customers, and not the company. All copyrights belong to their respective owners.
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