On Sat, Feb 23, 2008 at 11:44 AM, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > http://www.news.com/8301-13580_3-9876425-39.html > > Open-source fans mixed on Microsoft move > > Open-source fans can be a skeptical bunch, but I've seen > their collective opinions shift--for example in the > gradually diminishing loathing for Sun Microsystems as that > company stopped deriding Linux and started moving its > portfolio to open-source software. > > So it's not a surprise that various representatives had a > mixed reaction to Microsoft's move Thursday to share details > of its technology with open-source programmers. > > The move could make it easier for many projects to work well > with Microsoft products and potentially replace them--for > example the Thunderbird e-mail software could communicate > better with Microsoft Exchange servers and also displace > Microsoft Outlook on PCs. But Microsoft also made it clear > that a pledge not to sue open-source programmers only > applied in "non-commercial" contexts, so open-source fans > didn't get everything they want. > > And even though Microsoft said it now will share the > specific list of patents it says it has on technology it > wants to license to others--something open-source fans have > sought once Microsoft asserted last year that Linux and > other projects violate 235 patents--some see signing > licenses as incompatible with open-source license requirements. > > For its part, Microsoft is pledging to move beyond its > historically adversarial treatment of the open-source realm. > "As Microsoft takes this significant step forward into the > interconnected world of the future, we aspire to doing so > with members of the open source community by our side now > and for the long haul," said Bill Hilf, Microsoft's general > manager of platform strategy, on his blog. Hilf previously > ran Microsoft's Linux lab and was an Linux deployment > specialist at IBM. > > I surveyed various companies and individuals about the move > and received some other thoughts unsolicited. Here are some > reactions: > > • Jim Zemlin, Linux Foundation executive director: "The > world of software development has been marching in a steady > direction toward being open and transparent. As Linux's use > continues to rise, so does the demand for customers to > enable it to interoperate with Microsoft products. This > announcement by Microsoft seems to indicate they want to > participate in that march. Even if some of the announced > details still seem less than ideal for open source > developers, at least it's a first step." > > • Michael Cunningham, Red Hat's general counsel: "Red Hat > regards this most recent announcement with a healthy dose of > skepticism. Three commitments by Microsoft would show that > it really means what it is announcing today: > > "Commit to open standards: Rather than pushing forward its > proprietary, Windows-based formats for document processing, > OOXML, Microsoft should embrace the existing ISO-approved, > cross-platform industry standard for document processing, > Open Document Format (ODF) at the International Standards > Organization's meeting next week in Geneva... > > "Commit to interoperability with open source: Instead of > offering a patent license for its protocol information on > the basis of licensing arrangements it knows are > incompatible with the GPL (General Public License)--the > world's most widely used open source software > license--Microsoft should extend its Open Specification > Promise to all of the interoperability information that it > is announcing today will be made available... > > "Commit to competition on a level playing field: Microsoft's > announcement today appears carefully crafted to foreclose > competition from the open-source community. How else can you > explain a 'promise not to sue open-source developers' as > long as they develop and distribute only 'non-commercial' > implementations of interoperable products? This is simply > disingenuous." > > • Miguel de Icaza, founder of the GNOME project and a Novell > programmer working on Mono, an open-source implementation of > Microsoft's .Net software: "As a chess move, it is a > fascinating one...On the surface it looks very good. (There > are) lots of things that we want to interoperate > with--Office, SQL Server, SharePoint. Getting the > documentation to everyone sounds great, and it seems like > they are serious about doing more interoperability > work...When the full list for patents becomes available, the > question is what will open-source vendors do if they find > pieces that have historically infringed: will they choose to > license and be the recipients of the community wrath, or > will they hold their grounds and risk a lawsuit?" > > • Jeremy Allison, a founder of the Samba open-source > project: "The devil is in the details. If they can follow > through with this, the world will be a better place...It > doesn't mean any change for us (Samba) as we already had all > these documents, and the promise not to sue is only for > 'non-commercial' open source, which is a bit meaningless. At > least everyone now gets access to the same info, which I'm > very happy about. Hey, should we ask for our money back ? :-)." > > • Matt Asay, vice president of business development for > Alfresco and a writer for CNET's Blog Network: "The really > big news is Microsoft's commitment to open APIs (application > programming interfaces) and open protocols...It's great > news, and it's big news. My company has been seeking this > API and protocol information for months (years, really). But > Microsoft's pledge doesn't obviate the need to negotiate > patent royalties, if required, with the company." > > • Andi Gutmans, a co-founder of Zend: "I have no doubt > Microsoft is doing the right thing for their business. I > believe Microsoft has finally understood that their closed > nature has significantly hindered the growth of their > ecosystem...Microsoft has had a strong Microsoft-centric > ecosystem, but going down this path they are able to extend > their applicable market beyond today's reach...I believe the > PHP community can only benefit from this move. With PHP > being a heterogeneous solution which works on pretty much > any operating system, any database and any Web Server; the > more interoperability capabilities it has with all > open-source and proprietary solutions the > better...Microsoft's all or nothing approach has been an > accelerator for the adoption of open-source operating > systems. While I am a big fan of Linux, I do believe that > this is going to put an increasing amount of pressure on the > Linux/Unix backers to deliver innovation and value on top of > these systems."
Great, bagus untuk Micr$oft. Mudah-mudahan mereka buka driver APInya sehingga semua driver h/w for Window$ bisa dipake di Linux. Amin. -- Resza http://jakarta.linux.or.id http://www.bonekatux.com
