Microsoft is hiring a "linuxman"

[Odd]

Gilles Gravier wrote:
> Hi!
> 
> On 04/01/2010 14:42, Odd wrote:
>> Gilles Gravier wrote:
>>   
>>> Hello!
>>>
>>> On 04/01/2010 14:18, Odd wrote:
>>>     
>>>>> I'm confident that whatever Microsoft puts behind this effort (we
>>>>> can think of many things, not all of them nice and fair) they
>>>>> still will not win against open source.
>>>>>
>>>>>         
>>>> Not until they give away Windows for free. It has been speculated 
>>>> about Microsoft doing so, and earning money on support and ads 
>>>> instead.
>>>>
>>>> Btw, scroll down to competition: 
>>>> http://www.microsoft.com/msft/reports/ar09/10k_fr_bus_01.htm
>>>>       
>>> Yeah. So they know their competition... :) Doesn't mean the company
>>> can handle it.
>>>     
>> True.
>>   
>>> It's very hard to move from a license to a services model. And
>>> building it mandatory in the product would not necessarily work. For
>>> example, ads in enterprise deployments would be promptly rejected.
>>>     
>> Yeah. I'm assuming they would rely on support in the enterprise
>> sector, not ads.
>>   
> Yeah... *IF* that were to be the case, I imagine too.
>>> So it would come back to mandatory service... i.e. not really free.
>>> Linux CAN be free if you can afford your own support staff. Windows
>>> probably never.
>>>     
>> Never say never. ;)
>>   
> Agreed.
>>> And they would have to do that for MS Office as well...
>>>     
>> They are already making a free web version of Office, to counter
>> Google Docs.
>>   
> I have yet to see that. Where is it? I see an announce that they "PLAN"
> to make that available in 2010...

Like I said, they're _making_ it. It's not finished.

> Now, on the announce, which I see here :
> http://www.informationweek.com/news/software/hosted/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=218500034
> , I notice something...
> 
> The web version is supposed to be free to all... but one of the
> paragraphs says : "Microsoft also announced that businesses that
> purchase volume subscriptions to Office will receive access to the
> Office Web apps at no additional charge."... So does this mean that it
> will actually only be FREE for non commercial use?

I think businesses pay for Googles Docs already. So nothing new
there.

> Then of course, we're
> still not competing with OpenOffice.org which is free for whatever-use... :)

Yep. I prefer that. Some may prefer having online access to their
office documents everywhere they go.

>>> I still think it would take them too big of an effort.
>>>     
>> MS has the money to do almost anything they want to.
>>   
> They do.
> 
> But keep in mind that whatever Microsoft does... it's to make lots of
> money from it. Not to give out to the world.

For sure. But perhaps MS will have to contend with less profits
in the future. Their server and client OSes are hugely overpriced.
Ever had to buy another CAL? Then you know. I'd much rather
use open source for my server needs. No having to keep track
of number of installations, how many connections I have to pay
for and other hassles that come with running Windows on a
server. But in the past, I've had to, because my clients only know
Windows, and everything else is scary.

Fortunately, that is changing. You need admins no matter, so
I don't think MS has any edge on that point. Linux isn't harder
to administer that Windows.

-- 
Odd