Microsoft's Reaction to OSS Adoption

inode_buddha writes "Eric S. Raymond has the eighth "Halloween" memo available here. It looks like Microsoft is really beginning to notice the national and corporate movement towards FS/OSS, and is reacting accordingly."

8th Halloween Memo

[Anonymous Coward]

Is Jamie Lee Curtis going to be in this one? I think that the other memo's lost something when she wasn't in them.

Well

[Jonny Ringo]

That's what they get for living like assholes. Bill Gates has 7 kitchens and around 70 bathrooms! Shit, If I was a billionare I wouldn't even have 1 bathroom. I'd just be like "clean me up, come on 1,000 bucks to the first person to wipe my ass.

Mirror here

[grub]

January 2, 2003
From: William Gates III
To: All Employees

The sky is falling!

Thank you,

- Bill

The document is so boring, it is probably real...

[dagg]

The commentary on the document is pretty hard-hitting:

{We'll start by learning how to type the word "become" correctly. We promise.}

That in reference to a misspelling in the memo. That's some pretty juicy stuff they found there.

Re:Well

[Anonymous Coward]

but instead you'll keep working at McDonalds saving up your money to buy that perfect aluminum spoiler for your '87 civic.

Re:looks like great news for Linux

[edbarrett]

10,000th pounded gorilla

Dammit, and I was pounded gorilla #8346...

In Other News...

[zentec]

Eric S. Raymond was arrested today by the FBI for being in posession of confidential documents from Microsoft corporation. Microsoft has charged that posession is tantimount to industrial espionage and violates the DMCA.

"I find the whole matter deeply disturbing and troubling that this confidential document ended up in the hands of this individual. Obviously, intellectual and ownership rights have no meaning to the 'Linux' crowd and it just goes to show you their true mettle", said Microsoft spokesperson Nyles Forebush in an exclusive interview to Slashdot's Cowboy Neil.

Mr. Raymond is being held without bail at the federal penetentiary in Milan, Michigan.

Re:ZDNet is saying the same thing

[Anonymous Coward]

The BSOD comes to mind. They're working on a
native Linux version but right now it only runs
under WINE.

Re:Well

[sharkey]

I'd just be like "clean me up, come on 1,000 bucks to the first person to wipe my ass.

MS Depends: "You look like you just shit your pants. Would you like some help arraigning for a Smithers to clean you up?"

Re:they'll catch on

[akandels]

P.S.: Steve, we gotta stop giving away 1000 FREE HOURS OF MSN or we're gonna go bankrupt!

Alright, which is it!

[Cap'n enigma]

"It is a very robust program which works very much like Outlook"

It is very robust or it is very much like Outlook.

Only one can be true!

Mickysoft and Scienos?

[kobotronic]

Funny, how internal microsoft strategy letters, with their abbreviations and paramilitary jargon and posturing, resemble internal Scientology memos.

http://www.xenu.net/

Re:M$ doesn't "compete"

[Waffle Iron]

Microsoft has NEVER used the lawsuit as a weapon.

If I was above the law, I wouldn't use wee puny weapons like lawsuits either.

Mein Gott!!

[Trolling4Dollars]

This Eric Raymond guy isn't very smart! By being very open about what he thinks about Microsoft's strategy, he's giving Microsoft the insight to actually defeat OSS! I call for opposition of full disclosure! Oh wait... this isn't an OS security discussion is it? Sorry folks. Wrong troll. ;P

Actually, this is a very entertaining read like all the other analysis of the Halloween docs.

A funny thought about the memo . . . .

[Satanboy]

I just want to see all the memos that all the Microsoft execs had to send to one another to let each other know about this memo being discussed on /.

Really?

[Anonymous Coward]

I think that public domain software releases are the way to go and that anyone who uses the GPL is a copyright-seizing monopolistic bastard. In addition to that, I rarely wash. For these controversial views and habits I should become the most famous hacker and you should refer to me by my initials.

The b missing from become

[Anonymous Coward]

I think its obvious, lets face it, every microsoft thing has a spellchecker built in somehow, they love their com objects. These people aren't slashdot, they're not just going to miss a b. Its an obvious ploy, most likely everyone within the corporation recieved the same memo, minus a different letter. Naturally, the mis-spelling would be ridiculed along with the rest of the commentary by the open source crowd, thus ensuring that Microsoft could easily identify the person who leaked the memo and sack them.

So, who lost their job at Microsoft recently?

Alternatively, now the leak has been identified, they could be fed misinformation. I look forward to halloween 9, otherwise entitled "We attack at dawn, honest".

Phi.