[uug] Oracle and MySQL

[Stuart Jansen]

On Mon, 2009-04-27 at 09:01 -0600, Wilson Tarbuckles wrote:
>         If by "every bit as proprietary as Microsoft" you mean "also
>         learning to
>         embrace F/OSS", then I agree.


> embrace is too benign a word to adequately explain what they are
> doing:
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish 
> 
> 
> microsoft doesn't think of open source software the same way you do.
> they will always have a closed platform upon which they'll let you
> develop/use OSS, if that's what tickles your fancy.
> 
> http://i.zdnet.com/blogs/ms-open-source-strategy.png
> 
> it will take a lot more than their present marketing trends to
> suggest, to me, that they are changing their tune.  actually, that's
> putting it too lightly: if you believe them, i think you're being a
> tool.

*yawn*

I guess you haven't been paying attention for very long have you? Do you
remember Sun siding with SCO? Were you even aware of F/OSS back when
Microsoft was comparing it to communism and cancer? Do you remember
"Peace, Love, Linux"? "I'm a super villain and I use Linux"? IBM's
pledge to commit $1 billion dollars to Linux development? The good old
days when IBM, not Microsoft, was the great satan?

Your willingness to join a generation of fan boys blindly hating
Microsoft is sad and kinda dated at this point. Kinda like bell bottoms,
big eighties hair, or ripped jeans.

I was doing it a decade ago, but I got over it. So can you. Here's how:

1) Improve your reading comprehension skills. Although you have chosen
to remove the original context, I was pointing out that while Sun has
hardly always been a true and constant friend of F/OSS, it has been
steadily improving. So has Microsoft. I didn't say that either has yet
reached the level of IBM, Red Hat, Novell, or Canonical. But I did
approve of the trend.

In the world of the fan boy, saying anything nice about Microsoft is a
cardinal sin. Some Linux fan boys are so ideologically pure they would
denounce even Richard Stallman if he ever hinted at a positive opinion
of anything Microsoft did. That's just plain silly. 

I admit it. I'm guilty. I said something about Microsoft without
including the requisite insult. But I don't remember claiming that
Microsoft "think[s] of open source software the same way [I] do".

If your current reading level is low, there's not much I can suggest
other than: read more slowly, and get lots of practice. Some people find
it helpful to say the words out loud as they read. Get a friend to help
you with the big words instead of ignoring them and hoping they aren't
important. With practice, I'm sure you'll eventually do better.

2) Learn a little history. The IT world moves fast, 2 to 3 years is
considered a technology generation. But let that fool you, technology
might move quickly, but culture doesn't. To understand where things are
going, you can't look at the last 3 months. In fact, you can't even look
at the last 3 years. Instead, learn as much as you can about the last 3
decades (at least). While IT might still be a young field, at this point
it is old enough that it has repeated the same patterns several times.

Don't let yourself get trapped by the currently fashionable opinions. If
you have, don't worry. It's not too late to change. The important thing
is to do it sooner rather than later. With a little experience and
effort, eventually you'll learn to be skeptical when your friends start
claiming that all we need to achieve IT utopia is client server
architectures, XML, portals, social applications, mashups, or cloud
computing.

(I should point out, though, at this point anti-Microsoft shirt are more
likely to be found on the racks at DI than Hot Topic. If you want to be
5 years ahead of the curve, instead of 5 years behind, I suggest
attacking Google. I promise, start now and in 5 years you'll get to be
all smug and superior in front of your friends because you discovered
the new great satan before they did.)

I didn't base my opinion on Microsoft propaganda. I based it on
observation. You have to remember they way Microsoft was feared and
loathed a decade ago to see how much it has changed. If you had told me
in 1999 that Microsoft would one day sponsor Apache, I would have
laughed at you. Then Netscape open sourced Mozilla. IBM committed $1
billion to the Linux development. Linux became mainstream. Microsoft got
slapped around by European regulators. Customers started to demand
cooperation from Microsoft. And Microsoft changed.

Yes, Microsoft is fighting hard to stay on top. But it isn't he same
back alley, no holds barred, broken bottles and Molotov cocktails, win
at all costs sort of fighting that Microsoft used to be famous for.

It can't be. They know that eventually they will lose. Microsoft now
understands that it can't destroy F/OSS, so instead it is fighting for
time. Time to change its business model, and time to redirect F/OSS to
its advantage. Unless you're filled with a blind hatred that can only be
satisfied by Microsoft's death, I don't see how that's a bad thing.
That's just normal business reality.

They way I see it, IBM today is the pattern for Microsoft tomorrow.
Sure, IBM isn't all unicorns and kittens, but it has done a lot of good
for Linux and F/OSS. We live in the real world, not a Utopia.

http://www.paulgraham.com/microsoft.html
http://arstechnica.com/open-source/news/2008/07/microsoft-to-sponsor-of-the-apache-software-foundation.ars

--
 
"XML is like violence: if it doesn't solve your problem, you aren't
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