Microsoft wants an anti-Linux chief
If you really hate Linux – or at least are willing to pretend to – Microsoft might have the job for you. The firm is advertising for an executive who will be specifically responsible for competing against open source software.
Whoever takes the role as Director of Open Source Desktop Strategy “will be responsible for bringing our business strategy to life by discovering and sharing the market insights that set the foundation for our platform value dialogue with customers and the industry.” In other words, they’ll have to come up with reasons that will persuade people to stick with Microsoft products rather than switch to open source systems.
The full list of duties is written in the usual recruitment jargon, but the gist of it is that you have to research the market, produce objective measures which ‘prove’ Microsoft’s option is best, then work with the firm’s PR department and international offices to get that message across.
The ad specifically stresses the need for “a rational set of proof points” and “a fact-based marketing plan,” so the successful applicant will have to come up with something more solid than paying Jerry Seinfeld $10 million to go shoe-shopping.
The position is advertised as being part of a wider team dealing with ‘Windows Competitive Strategy,’ which presumably means colleagues will include a Macbasher-in-chief.
The brief doesn’t just cover the obvious markets such as netbooks and mobile devices, but specifically mentions PCs. While there’s no suggestion Microsoft is panicking about the Linux market share of desktops, the firm is clearly looking to crack down even the slightest threat. Just look at BestBuy stocking Ubuntu disks to see how open source could get a foothold into the mainstream.
Still, as Rupert Goodwins of ZDNet points out, there probably will be limits put on whoever takes over the role. His suggestion of the most logical response to the brief – putting a Linux CD in every Windows package so that consumers can compare the two systems – doesn’t seem like it would be a winner with Microsoft management.
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February 10th, 2009
You gotta love Microsoft!
February 10th, 2009
What does this job pay? It mightn’t be a bad place to bunker down during the GCC.
February 11th, 2009
“Whoever takes the role as Director of Open Source Desktop Strategy “will be responsible for bringing our business strategy to life [...]”
Is this an admission that as things currently stand, Microsoft’s business strategy is dead?
“[...] sharing the market insights that set the foundation for our platform value dialogue with customers [...]”
We know the “value dialogue” all too well thanks – Microsoft controls the OEM channels, and customers will d**n well buy the software that they are told to. The way this pans out is that there is little “value” and no “dialogue”.
“[..] they’ll have to come up with reasons that will persuade people to stick with Microsoft products rather than switch to open source systems.”
Good luck with that particular task – I think the horse has already bolted.
‘The ad specifically stresses the need for “a rational set of proof points” [...]‘
This must be a typo – Microsoft don’t do “rational” (just look at Steve Ballmer in action). They are, of course, past masters at *rationalisation*.
[...] “a fact-based marketing plan,” [...]‘
Should we expect a repetition of the “Get the Facts” marketing campaign with its reams of “independent” research?
“While there’s no suggestion Microsoft is panicking about the Linux market share of desktops [...]”
No they’re probably too asinine and too arrogant to be panicked about Linux, but one gets the impression that they are experiencing a vague unease – as well they should be.
“[...] the firm is clearly looking to crack down even the slightest threat.”
Heh, heh – Zune, Xbox, Vista, Internet search – they sure do crack down on those threats, don’t they?
“Just look at BestBuy stocking Ubuntu disks to see how open source could get a foothold into the mainstream.”
Quite so. Linux is going ahead in leaps and bounds. It is the beneficiary of word-of-mouth advertising, and it is a well nigh impossible task to counter this with conventional marketing or business tactics (or even with immoral or illegal tactics such as are often employed by Microsoft).
Note to Steve Ballmer: Microsoft is a corporation, Linux is a phenomenon, and phenomenon trumps corporation every time. You’d better get your resume up to date and start sewing yourself a white flag.
February 11th, 2009
With 1% of sharemarket, linux indeed is a AWESOME OS!!!! (sarcasm on)
ehhehehehehheheeheheheheh
February 11th, 2009
With 1% of sharemarket, linux indeed is a phenomenon!!!! (sarcasm on)
ehhehehehehheheeheheheheh
February 11th, 2009
With 1% of sharemarket, linux indeed is a…. I don’t know what it is, nobody uses!!!! (sarcasm on)
ehhehehehehheheeheheheheh
February 11th, 2009
Well considering that most major companies use Linux and WINE just recently hitting 1.0…. Linux is ALMOST fully compatible with MS apps. So tell me Bixcoito, how often has your o.s. crashed? I’ve been running Linux for six years and let’s see…how much down time have had… ummm..welll…. NONE! Microsoft spent six billion developing Vista….Oh my god! Aero is so hot…. wait… that’s old technology…
Well, at least Vista is bug free and cheap!
(Sarcasm on…)
February 11th, 2009
MSFT is so afraid of Linux its small marketshare that MSFT has to have a anti-Linux Chief.
This alone speaks volumes of what MSFT fears most, not competition…but competition that they cannot compete with on any level.
MSFT cannot compete with free nor than they counter the word of mouth “advertisements” by Linux users.
The jig is up and the horse has left the barn. $300 bloated, proprietary operating systems are a thing of the past….
February 12th, 2009
Sigh. Linux on the desktop, like OSX is zero threat to Microsoft. Their main money is from Server products and tools. Client software dropped 8% in their last fiscal year, while Server products grew 18%. Look, actual figures instead of rhetoric like a couple of 11 year old girls discussing boy bands. “Most major companies use Linux”, “the jig is up”, “phenomena trumps corporation” is cool and all, but just hot air without any supporting data.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/08/04/24/Microsoft-earnings-flat-despite-server-launches_1.html
The big winner from the Vista fiasco was Apple. They tripled their market share. Linux went backwards. Here in the States, we had Linux computers on shelves ready to buy and Dell crowing about Ubuntu. The computers were pulled, and the Dell offerings were buried so far down the menu tree they are difficult to find.
People paid $100 premiums to have XP installed on new machines when a technically superior OS was available for free. Apparently competing with free isn’t that hard. The OEM price for Windows is $50, not $300. Microsoft is so terrified they took down the FUD “Get the Facts” Website.
Linux will only grow from the Server Room. This fixation on the desktop by Apple and Linux Distros isn’t going to do it. No one is talking about Linux as a Server Product. The biggest chunk of revenue for Microsoft isn’t Windows, it’s the server and tools lines. All your delusional pronouncements completely skip over this simple fact. It’s the same with Macheads blathering about Apple gaining significant share of the enterprise.
I’m not believing any claim that you can use Linux for six years with zero lockups or downtime. I started using Linux in 1999 as a server product and played with it as a desktop OS over the years before making it my preferred choice three years ago.
It was putrid as a desktop six years ago. Bad drivers, especially video caused all kinds of problems.
February 12th, 2009
Pixar, Dreamworks, Burlington Coat Factory, Cisco, Digital Domian, Google, Lowe’s, Panasonic, Sony, Toyota, U.S. Army, U.S. Postal Service, Industrial Light & Magic…. Oh, according to stats 53% of “Major companies” use Linux… Sure Linux only has one percent of the market share but it’s only a matter of time until some Linux distro gets the right idea with a custom interface and a tailored version of WINE to run more Windows apps…. HP, Dell and Asus are finally starting to do more than just install the damn o.s. and let it fly. How does everyone feel about the kill switch in XP- 7 that MS says they won’t use. Linux is taking off slowly because few know about it other than techies… that’s why MS still sells. I know because I have to explain what Linux is and most people either think it’s an e-mail service or an app for MS. You know what Linux needs… a better package management setup. It’s a pain to install stuff even with all of the new gui installers. I can use them just fine, but not most new users. So you’re right about people not using… and no I have yet to experience downtime….
February 12th, 2009
Pixar, Dreamworks, Burlington Coat Factory, Cisco, Digital Domian, Google, Lowe’s, Panasonic, Sony, Toyota, U.S. Army, U.S. Postal Service, Industrial Light & Magic…. Oh, according to stats 53% of “Major companies” use Linux… Sure Linux only has one percent of the market share but it’s only a matter of time until some Linux distro gets the right idea with a custom interface and a tailored version of WINE to run more Windows apps…. HP, Dell and Asus are finally starting to do more than just install the damn o.s. and let it fly. How does everyone feel about the kill switch in XP- 7 that MS says they won’t use. Linux is taking off slowly because few know about it other than techies… that’s why MS still sells. I know because I have to explain what Linux is and most people either think it’s an e-mail service or an app for MS. You know what Linux needs… a better package management setup. It’s a pain to install stuff even with all of the new gui installers. I can use them just fine, but not most new users. So you’re right about people not using it… and no I have yet to experience downtime….
February 12th, 2009
Package management is the one area that linux shines. No other OS has a repository setup that will update everything installed from it. It’s really weird that many people who try Linux have no idea it’s there and blowup the install from Goggling for problems and installing raw packages and blowing dependencies.
If you want to be taken seriously it’s a good practice to actually link to the source.
It’s been the year of the Linux Desktop for years now. Making Linux the same as Windows is not the answer, but I hear it all the time. MS sells because it works and has a well developed support and marketing system.
February 12th, 2009
So again why IS Microsoft going to all this trouble and expense in hiring a “anti-Linux Chief” if Linux is so small and not even on the radar?
Surely Emballmer and the crew have better things to be concerned about than some “small” geeky OS. So again, WHY is MSFT going to all this trouble.
One wonders why those Dell laptops were pulled, the same goes for the Linux computers sold by Walmart in their stores. Who was behind the the pulling of these Linux computers? Where there any “back room deals” that maybe we aren’t privy to? No, THAT would never happen….
February 12th, 2009
Tossing out figures with no documentation is hardly compelling.
It’s been the year of the Linux Desktop for at least 5 years. 7 is going to slam the door shut for most people, unless the actual product differs greatly from the Beta.
The package management system is the one thing that Linux does better than any other OS. Their is little most people need that can’t be found in the repositories, and having them all update in a single process is wonderful. The main issue is people who are new to the OS have no idea APT or Yum exists.
Making Linux the same as Windows makes Linux worthless.
Forgive me, but I’m having difficulty believing you’ve been using Linux for 6 years.
February 13th, 2009
Hello Ken,
I note your comment “I’m not believing any claim that you can use Linux for six years with zero lockups or downtime.”
I had a colleague at work who installed a Linux PC to act as a router for a bank. Six years later, they phoned him and said “We’re moving to new premises, how do we switch this thing off?” Apparently the PC had never been shut down – so yes, according to my information, six years of uptime for a Linux system is not beyond the realms of possibility. (Slightly off-topic, but another workmate related to me that he had a Solaris server which reported uptime of almost *nine years* – amazing, but true!)
As a counterpoint, we all know that if one wishes to become an MCSE, he must first master the three Rs – “reboot, reinstall, rebuild”.
Regards,
Hugh
PS: talking of bands, did you know that “Dixie Chicks” is a “broad band”?
February 14th, 2009
The context was clearly as a desktop OS. I don’t believe you could run Linux without a lockup in that role.
Linux has really made huge strides as a desktop OS the last couple of years. In 2002-03 it was pretty rudimentary. I suppose you could have run CLI and a text browser.
You are correct about server/appliance uptimes. The longest I’ve heard about was an Open VMS server that ran for 18 years.
I wrote a script to periodically reboot NT/2000 servers just to flush caches and repair memory leaks back in the day. It was needed to keep them from locking up from low resources.
Never had to do that with any other OS.
February 14th, 2009
Ralph,
I don’t know that putting someone in place to draft strategy to counter competitors is being scared.
You keep thinking it’s all about the OS. It’s not. Firefox, Thunderbird, MySQL and others are all Open Source that compete with Microsoft products and run under Windows. Open Office? Think that is concerning Microsoft? The biggest concern isn’t the Linux Desktop, I think. You could do major damage to the Microsoft bottom line and not need to switch OSs.
February 14th, 2009
List of corps
http://www.aaxnet.com/design/linux2.html
Hollywood
http://www.linuxmovies.org/studios.html
And here’s your stats
http://blogs.zdnet.com/ITFacts/?p=7913
Don’t be lazy and just look it up yourself, there’s more where this came from.
February 14th, 2009
Hollywood: http://www.linuxmovies.org/studios.html
List of corps : http://www.aaxnet.com/design/linux2.html
http://www.linuxforums.org/forum/coffee-lounge/52759-lowes-uses-linux-3.html
The stats that you are too busy to notice:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/ITFacts/?p=7913
With so much “experience” with Linux, I’d think you’d know that Linux has spread through many non-profit and commercial endeavors. Linux is struggling on the desktop, I know that. But time is on it’s side. Hell, Linux packaging is very easy compared to how it used to be, but it is confusing to quite a few new (non-tech) users. I don’t really feel a need to convince you that Linux is almost everywhere. I’m still waiting on that Linux powered toaster…
By the way, I mainly use the gui. I think you’re thinking of those who are eager to get the latest kernels and other updates. Like what Torvalds has been saying: New kernels aren’t worth jack if they fix a few problems but make even more. I’ve heard of a kernel dump, but I’ve never seen one. I’ve had buggy apps in Linux from time to time, but never a system crash. Is this really a bad thing? I see no point in arguing about this. If you took the time to see that there are Linux users without problems then I don’t think you’d be knocking it. It’s true that there’s been driver problems, but that is to be expected since there are still a lot of companies with closed source drivers. Linux works great for me and that’s enough for me…
February 15th, 2009
Was that so hard? You may have been to busy to read this from your link:
“Linux use was reported in 53% of the 500 North American companies surveyed by SG Cowen & Co, TechWeb reports. 7% of the respondents planned to adopt Linux, which was the “most modest” level the company had seen in its survey. The combined use or planned adoption of Linux at 60% was the lowest level since September 2003, when the number was 56%, including 44% having adopted Linux and 12% planning to use the open-source operating system. There was a 10% drop from September 2004, when Cowen reported 56% of companies having adopted Linux and 14% planning to deploy the operating system. 52% of companies planned to increase workloads on Windows servers, versus 7% planning a reduction. For Linux, those numbers were 50% and 10%, respectively.”
It states Linux adoption and deployment use was down, and 52% were going to increase the loads on their Windows servers.
Linux has a commanding lead as the OS of the Web. More servers run Apache on Linux by a wide margin.
I live in an area that has the 5th largest school district in the US. They are very aggressive in using FOSS and well over 60% of the current servers used are running Linux. They replaced their HP AS400s with Linux Clusters. And they standardized on open standards formats. Submitting a bid in Word will get it rejected.
I like Linux. My wife’s laptop runs Ubuntu. My elderly mother-in-law who lives a thousand miles away uses PClinuxOS. No problems.
http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2007/05/06/ubuntu-is-not-ready-for-most-even-from-dell/
You can read my anti-linux and pro-Windows comments. Like this one:
” There are literally hundreds of thousands of people using Linux on desktops and laptops. They can’t all be geeks. Your inflexibility and inexperience with the subject matter is what sticks out.”
I’m at a loss how looking at the actual marketshare of 1-3% and the distribution method of Linux weighed against the overwhelming advantages of entrenched resources and infrastructures enjoyed by Microsoft and concluding MS isn’t doomed makes me anti-Linux.
I thought when Vista made its appearance like a turd in a punch bowl Linux has a real chance to take advantage of it. It started to look that way. After an initial flurry of activity and buzz by both Apple and Linux, Apple kept growing market share and Linux didn’t.
I loved my Betamax. It was superior to VHS, at least in practice. The format is still used in commercial applications. If I said the VHS format was going to utterly dominate back in 1984 would that mean I hated Beta?
Microsoft was a lot more worried about Linux back in 2001-2006. They put considerable resources during that period to combat Linux, but mostly aimed at Red Hat. Here is a comment from a Red Hat suit in early 2001:
http://www.wired.com/techbiz/media/news/2001/02/42008
Notice the core business statement. MS was all hopped up about losing the server side of the business. It was all over the IT trade mags and if you went to trade events with Microsoft present you would see it on some of their material.
Every comparison on Microsoft websites and other marketing blather referred to Red Hat. What was the Linux OS you could get pre-loaded from every major vendor and basically the only Linux offering with commercial support.
I don’t know why disagreeing that Microsoft is toast and putting out links to their revenue stream and other widely used yardsticks for gauging a companies health to back it up makes me a shill. Or asking someone to do the same to support their argument is unfair.
And I wasn’t saying that the current state of the Linux desktop couldn’t be trouble free. It is pretty easy now, and works well with minimum fuss.
My point was if you used Linux as your desktop OS six years ago and never had a system freeze or had to reboot it’s hard for me to believe. Six years ago it blew. Chunks. Sound cards and video drivers were buggy and crap six years ago. Any multimedia use was painful. Unlike today, resolving dependencies and broken packages were a nightmare. That was my “experience”.
Servers were much more reliable and scalable running RH than NT. XP kicked the crap out of X GUIs by any measure except security back then. OS8 and 9 on Macs were the same. Maybe you were incredibly fortunate.
I just don’t think Microsoft is very worried about a 1% Desktop OS driving them out of business. I think Open Office is worrying them more as a loss of revenue. That was my argument. Not about which OS is superior or if you can find Linux being used by millions of people or in thousands of companies. Apparently that makes me a heretic.
If you took the trouble to read all the articles in this Windows section 99.9% are totally skewed and negative and most have an accompanying graphic of Balmer with his tongue out or some other negative context like a band aid on the MS logo.
Go over to the Mac section and the reverse is true. Apple is perfect.
Now go to the Linux section. Should be easy to find ample articles on the OS driving Microsoft out of business.
Everything I use to argue Linux is not currently a big concern to Microsoft, record revenue the last three years during the Vista fiasco, Server products and tools growing at a 20% clip and being their core business and stopping almost all of the aggressive Linux FUD a couple of years back.They are easily verified.
None of it has anything to do with the actual Linux OS superiority. I’m not slamming Linux. I’m not glorifying Microsoft.
I’m asking for some kind of rational, objective metric supported by verifiable and commonly used measurements showing Microsoft is being significantly hurt by either Linux or Apple.
Losing 10% of the desktop market isn’t one. They don’t sell support contracts on the desktop OS alone in any number, it is usually a rider on a server product. It’s not losing IE share to Firefox running on a Windows box.
I realize you didn’t make many of the arguments I ranted about in this long winded comment. I wanted to toss the rest in because one of the staff left me a comment in another thread that some of the other staff that blog here were tired of my anti-linux rants and said I was a paid MS shill who was lying about using Linux.
I can’t seem to get anyone to actually support the claims of a doomed Microsoft in serious danger staffed by inept, drool cup using morons of evil natures using actual objective data. And since it’s difficult to see that disputing Linux is in any position to do real harm to Microsoft isn’t the same as slamming the OS I’ll do George and the other staff a favor and stop posting here.
March 3rd, 2009
@Ken,
“I can’t seem to get anyone to actually support the claims of a doomed Microsoft in serious danger staffed by inept, drool cup using morons of evil natures using actual objective data.”
Evil natures indeed – I assume you know that MS are suing TomTom for “patent” infringement, where one of the “patents” is for an Internet-connected computer in a car. (Wow, such “innovation” – who would have thought of such a thing. It’s fortunate for the world that we have Microsoft coming up with such wonderful “technology”).
Drool cup morons indeed – the alleged “patents” are all invalid due to either prior art or triviality, but MS are apparently too stupid to grasp this. (Some say “the anti-trust suit was years ago” – can these individuals spell “vexatious litigation”?)
Yes, Microsoft is doomed – they have admitted it by resorting, in their desperation, to this lawsuit. They know that no one cares about their software any more, and they want to save their financial hide by making money from being a “patent” troll (the worthlessness of their “patents” notwithstanding). They are going to get *smashed* over this – TomTom is a Dutch company; do you think the EU is going to stand idly by?