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Microsoft‘s new Open Source Web site is really funny
By Michael Pietroforte | 4 Comments | Permalink | Trackback | Previous | NextMicrosoft has a new site dedicated to the relationship between Microsoft and the Open Source community. When I skimmed over the site I had a hearty laugh when I opened one of the PDF flyers there.
It seems that the initiators of the site are somewhat unsure about the site’s purpose. The banner gives you four options: “I want to participate/partner/grow/learn with Open Source and Microsoft.” Well, I still have to choose yet, but I think I will go for “grow”. What about you?
No seriously, the purpose of the site is too obvious. The message to all Open Source advocates is clear: We are your friends, not your foes. However, I doubt that you can convince Open Source geeks with such a site. The start page has two links to PDF flyers, trying to convince us, how well Microsoft is already working together with the Open Source community. Is the proprietary PDF format really suitable for such a purpose?
The first file is about Microsoft’s relation to the Mozilla project. I really had to laugh after skimming over it. The document has four pages. The last page is only about Copyright issues concerning the text in the first three pages. This is really the joke of the month.
But you can also find some useful information on the site. Indeed there are a couple of projects showing that Microsoft is interested to get in touch with the Open Source community. They also offer an RSS feed with updates about Microsoft’s relation to OSS.
PDF 1.7 has been submitted to ISO and Microsoft’s XPS has been submitted to ECMA. They’ll both be standards… eventually.
But I agree that their response to OSS has been pretty laughable. Hopefully this is a sign that someone in that company is trying to turn things around.
Hi Mike, I think Microsoft has just changed the strategy. They realize now that OSS itself can’t really endanger their business. But the way they treated the Open Source community harmed their image. What is so funny is that they use typical marketing strategies to persuade Open Source fans. Perhaps PDF flyers are useful tools to court CIOs, but I seriously doubt that you can win the favor of Open Source hackers this way.
[...] Peitroforte too finds the site funny. I think CodePlex (earlier gotdotnet) stands a better chance of representing the open source [...]
[...] Peitroforte en su blog encuentra el sitio muy divertido. Aun así Microsoft está realizando muchos esfuerzos para destacar en la comunidad de código [...]