Microsoft's Bill Hilf says Linux doesn't exist any more
Microsoft has fired new shots in its war of attrition against the Open Source Movement, the latest being Bill Hilf declaring that Linux is dead:"They are full-time employees, with 401K stock options. Some work for IBM or Oracle. What does that mean? It means that Linux doesn't exist any more in 2007. There is no free software movement. If someone says Linux is about Love, Peace and Harmony, I would tell them to do their research. There is no free software movement any more. There is big commercial [firms] like IBM and there is small commercial [firms] like Ubuntu," he said.
Now that's the kind of statement that vaporises Hilf's credibility as some sort of Microsoft-Open Source mediator completely. I have thought about the same sort of thing, like when I interviewed Bdale Garbee who works for Hewlett-Packard. That interview got chopped down quite hard, but I asked Garbee if working for a big corporation like H-P didn't get in the way of Open Source ideals.
Garbee's response was that it didn't, simply because it wasn't in H-P's interest to get in the way of how Open Source works. That's a pragmatic business decision by H-P and why not? They seem to be doing well with Open Source.
Hilf needs to work on his FUD-slinging as well. The hippie Love, Peace and Harmony is hardly what Open Source is about in 2007, thank goodness.
If by the above Hilf is referring to Novell, which did a deal with Microsoft, well then... that's a different matter. It's entirely possible for an open source supporter to go rogue and and lose its bearings.
My suspicion is that Hilf and Co are softening up public opinion ahead of Microsoft's patent onslaught on Open Source. Obviously, if it's all just big and small commercial firms, then shaking them down for patent royalties becomes much more palatable.
Either way, this is a toe-reducing move by Microsoft's strategists. The SCO débâcle showed that there's little support for legal dirty tricks like using dubious patent claims, and governments around the world may step in to cut Microsoft down in size if it goes down this route.
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Comment by Hamish, on 15-MAY-2007 17:39
It's sad that projects built on charity and good-will still receive that kind of animosity. And the continue to pretend that people don't use it!
On that note, good to see that someone is making a Silverlight player for Linux (because, you know, MS will wait to see if anyone wants one before building one - even though they're already catering for Mac and Firefox on Win).
Comment by bruno, on 16-MAY-2007 00:43
Like i've heard this a long time ago, and linux is still updating it's kernel. I use Ubuntu and I can say that it is much more stable and robust than the Wind0ws XP. Let's talk about clusters, Open Source rules on those and someone is telling me that Linux and Open Source is dead ?? It have to be someone from Micr0s0ft!!!
Comment by Bob Masterson, on 16-MAY-2007 01:13
I was kind of expected more of a cold embrace of open source software, especially with the Microsoft/Novell Linux deal and not a complete "death sentence" of open source. We still have not seen the full intentions of what is yet to be unleashed.
Comment by Peter, on 16-MAY-2007 03:33
I was trying to put this info to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Hilf but could not find the original article at Bill's blog. Was it removed?
BTW your comments submission validation does not work if javascript is disabled.
Comment by Jonathan Carter, on 16-MAY-2007 03:52
Dear Bill. From reading your entry, it is clear that you don't understand what free software means. Free software and commercial software is not mutually exclusive. In fact, the free software movement encourages people to make money from free software. Free software is healthier and more alive right now than it's ever been, and I'm privileged to be a part of it.
Comment by barf, on 16-MAY-2007 12:28
Mr Hilf does understand Open Source.. He just works for Microsoft.
http://port25.technet.com/archive/2007/05/15/clarifications.aspx
"If the software is open, it’s open, that does not change based on who developed it or why. In this article it sounds like I say ‘because they are paid, then free software is extinct!’ which, of course, is silly. I know this and I think it’s a combination of me not being clear and this particular article shaping it in a certain direction. But I’ll take the blame: I shoved my foot in my mouth and it came across as idiotic."
Comment by Alexei Kakhno, on 16-MAY-2007 17:01
He says it's not free! Haa, I can download Linux and install on my computer and use it. I need not to pay anyone!
So i can't download Windows and use it for free! Is it right!?
He does not understand what free software is!
What he is doing in Microsoft? :-)
Comment by aw, on 21-MAY-2007 08:45
One thing about all this that worries me is that Microsoft was definitely watching while SCO went in all guns blazing. Was MS quietly watching SCO and making notes as to what their mistakes were, and how to do it better? They can't really be so stupid as to watch another company try this, and fail, then make the same mistake themselves.
What do they have in their legal arsenal that we don't know about?
Comment by Michael Hastrup, on 21-MAY-2007 23:09
Very sad to see ms plays this way, its shows how "big" they really are.
using Using Ubuntu 7.04
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Comment by barf, on 15-MAY-2007 17:28
very interesting.. it seems to me as though he is denouncing altruism, not Open Source.