Comments on: Will Microsoft Subsume Open Source?

By: http://blog.davestechshop.net

http://blog.davestechshop.net — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 15:15:03 +0000

Today I wrote another article that was initially inspired by this one.

http://blog.davestechshop.net/archive/2006/09/19/MicrosoftHasGreaterResponsibility.aspx

I certainly think Joe Brinkman has some good points – indeed, some great points. But I also think the concerns Wyatt raises in his post need to be addressed better by Microsoft. That’s why I wrote yet another follow up on this topic.

By: http://blog.davestechshop.net

http://blog.davestechshop.net — Tue, 15 Aug 2006 17:27:58 +0000

Great article. This issue ranks right up there with Net Neutrality, in my opinion. Once Microsoft exterminates, their formerly competing product stagnates.

On the question of open source’s future on Windows, I responded in more detail on my blog at:
http://blog.davestechshop.net/archive/2006/08/15/FutureOfOpenSourceOnWindows.aspx

By: Daniel Read's Software Development Blog

Daniel Read's Software Development Blog — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 19:08:30 +0000

More Tool Stagnation to Come?

This does not bode well for Windows-oriented Open Source, and goes a long way to explain why even 5 years after the release of the framework, .NET-based Open Source has never taken off in a significant way. Projects like NDoc and Dot Net Nuke have been…

By: wwb_99

wwb_99 — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 18:07:57 +0000

@Joe

Interesting and valid points. I don’t think OSS is dead by any stretch of the measure. Still, ask yourself this:

1) Given that DLINQ and such are coming down the pipe, would you build your next big, new project on NHibernate or DLINQ given the support and toolkit MS will be throwing into the mix? I know which way I would architect things.

2) Personal works aside, would you build your next portal on DNN or MOSS 2007, given where the weight of Microsoft support will fall? And how deeply integrated MOSS 2007 appears to be with the rest of the webby 2007 MS products?

By: Hal9k

Hal9k — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 09:58:32 +0000

@laskasdf GCJ

By: laskasdf

laskasdf — Fri, 28 Jul 2006 01:17:06 +0000

Free software can only flourish on top of an free platform … this was was the original ideea of Richard Stallman, and apparently he was right.

You mean like closed source Java, right?

By: myrdhrin

myrdhrin — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 10:50:19 +0000

@Joe Brinkman

I’m not saying its a bad thing (well almost)… I’m just saying it is not unheard from Microsoft to move like this, let other take the risk, put the idea, do the first effort and collect the results.

In most cases its a good thing, especially with development tools. Over the years they’ve proven they can provide tools and suites that are integrated to very good levels.

By: Joe Brinkman

Joe Brinkman — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 10:37:30 +0000

I think this analysis misses the point of most open source Projects. Many of these projects are started because someone had a need that was not being fulfilled by the available software in the market. So they write a program to meet their own needs. Then it gets extended and other people start using it and it takes off from there. The fact that a company comes along and builds a tool to do essentially the same thing as the Open Source tool should not be a bad thing, anymore than another Open Source competitor starting a project to compete is a bad thing. When NPersist was created, did the people working on NHibernate just quit because suddenly they had competition? The point of all this is not software for software’s sake, but software to fill a need in the marketplace. If Microsoft can produce the software that the marketplace needs, at a price that the marketplace will accept then good for Microsoft, or Oracle or Sun or IBM or any of a thousand other companies that produce products that compete head-to-head with open source projects. Imagine if Marc Fluery had taken the attitude that he couldn’t compete with BEA because BEA could put paying developers on their App Server.

I have been working on DotNetNuke for more than 3 years now and we are stronger than ever even though Microsoft has added in several portal related features to ASP.Net 2.0 and is almost ready with MOSS 2007. While some people may shift to those other platforms, we still have a strong following that continues to grow every day. And if someone takes over NDoc development, I am sure it will remain the top documentation generation tool for a long time to come, no matter what Microsoft comes out with.

By: myrdhrin

myrdhrin — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 07:08:23 +0000

This sounds like dejà-vu… and Microsoft is good at this game.

Let other build products and come with the ideas and then take over the idea (or product) and productize it as a Microsoft solution.

By: bonefry

bonefry — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 05:40:23 +0000

… sorry, I meant NDoc above :)