Get Off Microsoft

Good news! Competition has returned to the industry. I can go on to better topics now. Thanks for all the fish!

More Windows users are switching to Macs because their Windows PCs are out of date. People have finally figured out (after about a decade of it being true) that there is no penalty in switching from Windows to the Mac.

This is how Microsoft gets away with “interoperability” — co-opting proven standards (like XML) and turning them into Microsoft pseudo-standards, which are then set as defaults for the program while offering the real standards as options.

Microsoft’s shakedown turned Novell into a Microsoft partner with SuSE Linux; now it has turned Xandros into a partner as well. Microsoft made them a deal they couldn’t refuse. Like garbage hauling contractors in the Northeast Jersey of The Sopranos, Xandros and Novell have nothing to lose by paying tribute to Microsoft. Linux is thriving in the shadow of Microsoft’s cold war.

Microsoft is resorting to a Cold War on Open Source and Linux, using fear and uncertainty as it primary weapons. Microsoft is using this threat to bring Open Source developers and Linux suppliers — and their large clients — to the bargaining table to pay licenses. The patents should be challenged, because many of them are probably suspect. But these patents probably won’t be challenged in court, because Microsoft does not want a public legal fight. Microsoft would rather keep the Open Source community muttering underneath its breath, and reveal nothing.

In countries and cities around the world, mandated or not, Linux desktop PCs are decisively replacing PCs.

With Ozzie and Mundie at the helm, Microsoft is not likely to make its transition — from Office and Windows revenue streams to services — very quickly. While heaping praise on Ozzie for at least having a truly innovative past, let’s not forget that Mundie, and ultimately Ballmer, will remain “the voice of reason” in Redmond.

Microsoft’s delay in providing Windows Vista to the general marketplace has sparked all manner of criticism and analysis. ‘ve addressed a number of questions from reporters and journalists and gathered them here, with paraphrased questions and my responses.

People are aware of Microsoft’s history of locking customers in with new features at the expense of security, proposing pseudo-open standards, and spreading FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt) about its competitors.

True to form, Microsoft is spreading fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) to stall efforts to standardize on a more open document format supported by other applications.