Does the departure of Bill Gates mean the beginning of the era of Microsoft's convergence with open source software?
Will Microsoft become more open source with the departure of Bill Gates?
It's a difficult question. Observers on both sides - open and proprietary software - argue that the departure of the permanent leader does not mean the beginning of the GPL era in the company, but it is likely to speed up the process of changing positions in Redmond.
"We have already noticed a completely different approach in matters related to open source software and companies producing it, on the part of the Sam Ramji group, which does a great job helping to establish dialogue," said Rafael Laguna, head of Open-Xchange and former marketing director at SUSE Linux. “After Gates left, only one Mammoth remained - Ballmer. With his departure in the near future, Microsoft should definitely become open. Just obliged. "
Another observer noted that Gates’s departure would help the company adopt an Open Source policy.
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“For most of its time, Microsoft’s main strategy was“ Windows everywhere. ” Bill Gates was the founder of this principle and helped the company reach $ 50 billion in revenue. However, in order to grow from 50 to 100 billion, they will obviously need to capture the world of non-Windows systems, ”says Barry Crist, director of Likewise Software. “I suspect that this goal is more achievable for them without Gates. And we already see the main signs of this. ”
One of the sponsors of open source software believes that Gates’s premature exit means the beginning of the end of proprietary software.
“Bill Gates was one of the first to find a way to make a profit from software licensing, and he was able to build the largest software company on the planet using this method. [But] selling software licenses has become commonplace, ”says Juergen Geck, Openxchange CTO, who is trying to compete with Microsoft Exchange.
Of course, no one expects from Microsoft that they will open the source code of their flagship products, but even the developers at Microsoft expect shifts towards greater openness and publication of the source codes in the “postgate” era.
“I have a strong feeling that Microsoft will revisit all its capabilities, given the existence of the strategy and the Open Source community. I think, basically, Microsoft will remain what it is, in the sense that it will continue to release commercial software and take intellectual property rights very seriously. But I think we will see more open source or partially open source software on CodePlex, like the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit, ”said Andrew Brust, director of technology at TwentySix, a long time partner and developer for Microsoft in New York "I think we will still see that Microsoft will more closely interact with opensource-companies, communities and individual enthusiasts, both within .NET, and in general outside the sphere of interests of Microsoft." Brust also said that “Moonlight is a good messenger, sponsored by Novell, opensource-implementation of Silverlight for the Linux platform, and the fact that Microsoft collaborates with this team, providing development assistance. Scott Guthrie, as far as I can see, is a very reliable person for this kind of constructive interaction with the world of Open Source, and I believe that his influence will grow. ”
One of the leaders of the Linux Foundation said that he could not foresee what the new top at Microsoft would do, but open source software would continue to increase its already considerable influence on the company's market and its ways of doing business.
“Everything depends on Ballmer and Ozzy, and I foresee that there will be very interesting discussions within the company. Microsoft simply has no choice but to admit that the proprietary software development model no longer works, ”says Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation. "The future is distributed computing, and Web 2.0 application development will be based on Linux and open source software."
Others say that Gates will retain influence on the company as the chairman of its board and the main shareholder, and will promote its vision in strategic matters.
“Bill Gates perfectly planned his departure, today the company is really led by many great leaders. He is a very significant symbol and cult figure that we all will miss. But the chairman of the board is a prominent figure at Microsoft, so he will undoubtedly influence the company's strategic decisions, ”said Per Werngren, president of IDE (Stockholm, Sweden), as well as president of the International Association of Certified Partners of Microsoft.
From the translator. If you are minus karma, please work hard to explain the reason. Thank.
It's a difficult question. Observers on both sides - open and proprietary software - argue that the departure of the permanent leader does not mean the beginning of the GPL era in the company, but it is likely to speed up the process of changing positions in Redmond.
"We have already noticed a completely different approach in matters related to open source software and companies producing it, on the part of the Sam Ramji group, which does a great job helping to establish dialogue," said Rafael Laguna, head of Open-Xchange and former marketing director at SUSE Linux. “After Gates left, only one Mammoth remained - Ballmer. With his departure in the near future, Microsoft should definitely become open. Just obliged. "
Another observer noted that Gates’s departure would help the company adopt an Open Source policy.
')
“For most of its time, Microsoft’s main strategy was“ Windows everywhere. ” Bill Gates was the founder of this principle and helped the company reach $ 50 billion in revenue. However, in order to grow from 50 to 100 billion, they will obviously need to capture the world of non-Windows systems, ”says Barry Crist, director of Likewise Software. “I suspect that this goal is more achievable for them without Gates. And we already see the main signs of this. ”
One of the sponsors of open source software believes that Gates’s premature exit means the beginning of the end of proprietary software.
“Bill Gates was one of the first to find a way to make a profit from software licensing, and he was able to build the largest software company on the planet using this method. [But] selling software licenses has become commonplace, ”says Juergen Geck, Openxchange CTO, who is trying to compete with Microsoft Exchange.
Of course, no one expects from Microsoft that they will open the source code of their flagship products, but even the developers at Microsoft expect shifts towards greater openness and publication of the source codes in the “postgate” era.
“I have a strong feeling that Microsoft will revisit all its capabilities, given the existence of the strategy and the Open Source community. I think, basically, Microsoft will remain what it is, in the sense that it will continue to release commercial software and take intellectual property rights very seriously. But I think we will see more open source or partially open source software on CodePlex, like the ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit, ”said Andrew Brust, director of technology at TwentySix, a long time partner and developer for Microsoft in New York "I think we will still see that Microsoft will more closely interact with opensource-companies, communities and individual enthusiasts, both within .NET, and in general outside the sphere of interests of Microsoft." Brust also said that “Moonlight is a good messenger, sponsored by Novell, opensource-implementation of Silverlight for the Linux platform, and the fact that Microsoft collaborates with this team, providing development assistance. Scott Guthrie, as far as I can see, is a very reliable person for this kind of constructive interaction with the world of Open Source, and I believe that his influence will grow. ”
One of the leaders of the Linux Foundation said that he could not foresee what the new top at Microsoft would do, but open source software would continue to increase its already considerable influence on the company's market and its ways of doing business.
“Everything depends on Ballmer and Ozzy, and I foresee that there will be very interesting discussions within the company. Microsoft simply has no choice but to admit that the proprietary software development model no longer works, ”says Jim Zemlin, executive director of the Linux Foundation. "The future is distributed computing, and Web 2.0 application development will be based on Linux and open source software."
Others say that Gates will retain influence on the company as the chairman of its board and the main shareholder, and will promote its vision in strategic matters.
“Bill Gates perfectly planned his departure, today the company is really led by many great leaders. He is a very significant symbol and cult figure that we all will miss. But the chairman of the board is a prominent figure at Microsoft, so he will undoubtedly influence the company's strategic decisions, ”said Per Werngren, president of IDE (Stockholm, Sweden), as well as president of the International Association of Certified Partners of Microsoft.
From the translator. If you are minus karma, please work hard to explain the reason. Thank.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/31626/
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