Discouraging FOSS

In spite of all that, Linux has continued to grow and improve at an impressive rate. And that is precisely what seems to have Microsoft worried. As Steve Ballmer himself has acknowledged, “Linux is not about free software, it is about community… It’s not like Novell, it isn’t going to run out of money–it started off bankrupt, in a way.”

In contrast with Microsoft’s previous competitors which depended on the success of a product, FOSS is primarily a social movement, a movement which springs forth a variety of products. And those products end up having a negative effect on Microsoft’s returns.

It is clear that the more people are interested and able to improve and maintain the FOSS pool, the more Microsoft will find it hard to continue having success in the market. In other words, the only hope for Microsoft to contain Linux is to remove the desire for people to continue contributing to it. If you were Microsoft how would you attempt to accomplish that? Obviously, you would first have to identify the reasons why people contribute to FOSS. Then you would have to find ways to remove or dilute those incentives.

Of course, that is easier said than done. There are a lot of reasons why people like to contribute to Linux. So, I don’t think Microsoft can realistically hope to completely eradicate Linux or FOSS. But, maybe, just maybe, it could discourage the right type of contributors, the ones that contribute to its infrastructure and its foundation parts. Or. if that doesn’t work, maybe it could remove the incentive for a large enough number of top layer contributors, the ones that provide interfaces and user visible features. Microsoft would hope that this would slow down Linux enough for it to be able to outrun it in terms of features and quality.

[Special Note:

While many in North America will dismiss this story and related report as simply the "sole" concerns of Europe (and Asia, South America, Southern Africa and Australia) that affect only these regions, nothing could be more false.

Several very large USA Information Technology (IT) and Fortune 500 companies have been witnesses for and supportive of the European Union effort in this case.   Kimalcorp.org]

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