Microsoft Interested In More Linux Deals 256
eldavojohn writes "Microsoft has announced that it would be open to more deals similar to the one it just made with Novell. 'We will love to put that kind of agreement in place with anyone who distributes Linux software, Red Hat, whoever else,' Steve Ballmer told India's Economic Times. Considering the recent reactions to the Microsoft Novell deal, it would be interesting to see who else takes them up on the offer. Novell is due to receive USD $348 million in up-front payments. Will Red Hat cash out on this offer if it feels the impending pressure from Oracle's Linux? Will non-profit Linux distributions attempt to make deals with Microsoft?"
Well, I guess Microsoft Gets It Now (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Well, I guess Microsoft Gets It Now (Score:5, Interesting)
When competition becomes serious, "embrace and extend." This is exactly what MS's outlandish purchases in the 90s were about, and it seems they just forgot about it for a while (and were probably concerned about antitrust).
Meet the new Microsoft... same as the old Microsoft.
"Old news!" Not for people who use MS... (Score:4, Interesting)
Information is information regardless of where it comes from. What I'd really like to see is MS learning a lot from Linux distros and then incorporates things I happen to love about linux and oss into the system my employer forces me to use (so I can read spreadsheets... ugh). It would make my working life more fun.
The MS strategy here seems obvious to me. They bring a bunch of open source groups under their roof. The open source people who make money help MS make money as time goes by through support (not sure why MS is paying so much in advance, to be honest). The open source people embrace things like mono which work for any language (eventually) and on any system (mono). MS knows the uber geeks will probably still use Linux or Bsd or whatever, but they now can bring a LOT more open source software into the windows world. Beagle is a neat tool. Tomboy is neat. Are they neat enough for my mom to use on her windows computer? Possibly. MS could modify it and then redistribute, couldn't they? I think the gateway between free apps that are neat and their money making os is simply being opened.
If our software really is so much better, then what do we have to be afraid of. The software is GPL'd which means we're safe from anyone taking it away from us...
A record, even for Microsoft (Score:5, Interesting)
The ink on the Novell-MS deal isn't even dry yet and Ballmer is publicly announcing his intention to violate it.
In case nobody noticed, one of the clauses is that Microsoft won't cut any similar deals with Linux companies for at least three years. It's barely three days and they're already trolling for more.
Re:Way too obvious (Score:3, Interesting)
Your stretching it a bit by belittling Apple. They and NeXT did the impossible - they made Unix really, really usable. I speak as someone who bought a Mac intending to stick NetBSD or Yellow Dog Linux on it, only to end up sticking to OS X because I find it so easy to live with.
Yawn (Score:3, Interesting)
Wake me up when they become partners with something like Debian
Re:Way too obvious (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:"Old news!" Not for people who use MS... (Score:2, Interesting)
If they buy some friends in the Linux community, they can start implementing their code without looking like they "lost" to the competition.
Furthermore, at least in Novell's case, you're talking about a company that was a huge thorn in MS's side for YEARS. Novell had an enterprise-level product that MS couldn't match
Re:"Old news!" Not for people who use MS... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Way too obvious (Score:3, Interesting)
One possible scheme (Score:5, Interesting)
Basically, you engage in Novell-like patent cross-licensing deals with all the major Linux manufacturers, and push them towards one distribution ("MSLinux"). You drop hints about possible liability if anyone uses non-licensed distributions, discouraging their adoption and funding. Plus, you create a lot of proprietary, MSLinux-only 'compatibility extensions' that let it work with Windows. In the end, once "MSLinux" has captured a significant portion of the market, you cut of its air supply and let it die. This leaves people with little choice but to migrate to Windows, since the other Linux distributions are either perceived to be dangerous (due to patent landmines) or have simply been neglected and underfunded for so long, that they can no longer compete.
It's not a total endgame against Linux, but it's a pretty significant move. The GPL prohibits Linux from ever being killed completely (particularly outside the U.S.); but if you get enough software patents, it might be basically impossible to use in any significant, competitive way, without opening oneself up to legal problems.
The real unknown variable in all this is where IBM stands. They're obviously pro-Linux, but their support is generally indirect. You don't see them buying or operating their own Linux flavor or distribution outright. I wonder if Microsoft started buying up the competition, and the field started to narrow, would IBM jump in and pick up one of the players?
IIRC, the Linux desktop that IBM was going to deploy companywide (which would have been significant in itself, they have something like 300k employees) was a RHEL derivative. I wonder if they have some relationship with RH that would make them a likely buyout, or at least patent cross-licensing target?
That would be interesting; Novell and Microsoft and their patents on one side, and Red Hat and IBM on another, with the biggest repository of patents in the U.S. That would be an interesting showdown.
Re:Way too obvious (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Well, I guess Microsoft Gets It Now (Score:4, Interesting)
http://www.hunterstrat.com/news/2006/10/26/microso ft-1q-fy07-earnings-segment-breakout/ [hunterstrat.com]
Certainly, their client software is their cash cow, but see how little attention it is getting compared to servers and tools? Consider this: most windows liscences are sold at a steep discount when bundled with a PC... which does make MS profit, but a steadily decreasing one. I think MS is shifting their business model (which they are very good at). I won't say I know what they are up to, but it is clear that they have a long term plan.
Controlling the distribution chain (Score:2, Interesting)
You might ask why is Microsoft changing it tactics to semi-embrace Linux? One answer is that Linux is not going away and the second is that today's and tomorrows computing environments will be multi-os and multi-vendor, because of advancements in virtualization and deeper standardization of communication between different enterprise application. In this environment for Microsoft to succeed, they need to be more closer to customers and be able to satisfy all customers need, of course at this position they have more power to bring customers to their software offerings.
Re:What he leaves out says a lot (Score:1, Interesting)
My question is why would MS make a deal on the eve of Vista's release? It's going to look very odd to get Vista _and_ a certificate for Suse Linux. Sort of like saying this:
Dear Valued MS Customer,
We are sure you'll be happy with Vista. But if it does not meet your needs for security be sure to check out our partner's offering, Suse Linux. Thanks, Steve and Bill.
Now when customers complain en-masse (class action) that the highly touted new features in Vista are just the empty marketing promises, Microsoft has a defense:
Plaintiff: Vista let spyware send my retirement savings to organized crime in Russia.
MS Lawyer: Your honor, it's the plaintiff's own fault. She did not prepare herself to enter the cruel online world. We provided all of the tools she needed in the box. She could have chosen to use Suse and kept her life savings intact.
BTW, there was a class action against Intel for the Pentium IV's marketing which exageratted it's performance over the P III. Same thing for Vista and XP.
Crystal clear, but not the same as in your view (Score:2, Interesting)
I think what they are after is this: they want to consolidate the business use of Linux into a few corporate hands and then control those hands. How? Like this:
* create an impression that only one (or N) Linux vendors are legitimate and that the rest carry potential patent risks
* in case the risks do not seem real enough, at the same time provide an incentive to incorporate MS-patented code into Linux (by Novel and by the "non-commercial" developers)
Or look at it like this. MS can't just take the GPLed code and run with it, like they could with BSD. But instead, they can pay Novel to develop code on their behalf that they can then redistribute via simple bundling. So far so good. Linus would say it's fine as long as we get the contributions back. But not really - those contributions will likely be tainted by MS's patents. This is because Novel has no incentive to avoid this and MS has a strong incentive to steer Novel towards their patents. So if Linus takes the code, he will risk dramatically raising risks of infringing MS patents, thus making Linux into a Novel-only property for business use. If he does not, MS has effectively stolen the GPLed code without contributing changes back. Nice work.
Sure they will be happy to strike this kind of deal with other distros. The more of them are involved, the more patented code will tend to get into Linux, and the more control MS will have. I'm hesitant to use the Tolkien analogy, but it is still true - the 9 kings no doubt also thought they were getting a good deal when they got their magical rings.