[Am-info] MS, shared source and open source

[Roy Bixler]

There were 3 stories I noted that went by this past week and each
dealt in some way with how Microsoft is trying to discredit open
source.  In fact, the ways seem so disparate that it would seem
they're grasping at straws.

The first story is about how Microsoft determined that 2,300
organisations qualified for their shared source program but, when
offered, only 150 took Microsoft up on it.  The links are at

http://www.silicon.com/public/door?REQUNIQ=1032432181&6004REQEVENT=&REQINT1=55616&REQSTR1=newsnow

and

http://comment.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t479-s2122570,00.html

I only wonder if the low takeup is due to the self selecting group,
because adopting shared source is even more commercially restrictive
than adopting GPL source or both.

The second story is about IBM and Microsoft rejecting MySQL.  The
reference is at
"http://infoworld.com/articles/pl/xml/02/09/23/020923pldman.xml".  Of
course, this is no big surprise but note that the Microsoft manager
claims that MySQL really is a "niche" player and touts the great deal
of security and reliability from the big commercial vendor.  Right ...

I thought this especially ironic in light of the following account of
David Sugar, who was invited to speak at a technical conference in
Skopje, Macedonia on the topic of open source:

http://www.linuxjournal.com/article.php?sid=6336&mode=thread&order=0

In it, he mentions that a few speakers had cancelled due to pressure
and cajoling from the Adriatic region Microsoft representative.  Why
would they bother to do this if open source is really niche and
"nobody wants it?"

R.