Yahoo Open Source guru walks out

[Bill Brock]

Yahoo’s open source guru walks out | Open Source | ZDNet.com

What is this all about? Me thinks some important people are unhappy with Yang. Not everyone thought the Microsoft purchase was a bad idea. Including some very Open Source people.

[tgx]

I doubt he left because the MS deal didn't go through.
I think any idea that MS would somehow embrace Yahoo's
open source strategies and products is simply misguided and overly optimistic.
Does Hotmail still run on FreeBSD and open source code?
It was a grab for a userbase not an investment in open source.

He may just not agree with the latest internal strategy which obviously we have no clue as to the internal politics at Yahoo! Bottom line is people leave
for different reasons and there usually is no one single catalyst that drives a person
to exit, it's usually a series of events or disappointments. Iwish him luck and hope to see
him involved in some new and exciting venture.

[Bill Brock]

Things have changed at Microsoft regarding their stance with open source. And after Icahn wins his proxy fight and sells Yahoo to Microsoft, I think MS will continue to run the open source platform. What they did with MSN will have no bearing on what they'll do with Yahoo. Two completely different services to achieve two completely different things.

[tgx]

Originally Posted by Bill Brock

Things have changed at Microsoft regarding their stance with open source.

Sure they have...which is why we of course need a competing
document standard rather than working together on odf.

[Bill Brock]

Like I said, MS is changing their attitude toward Open Source.

'ODF has clearly won,' says Microsoft exec - The INQUIRER

[p24t]

Well, if they can't get OOXML approved, they don't have a lot of choice now do they? That is, unless they don't want their software to be used. (bought)

[Bill Brock]

OOXML has already been accepted as a standard. Good or bad.

Here is another article indicating MS' changing attitude toward OSS. And all the MS bashing in the world won't change this fact.

Will Bill Gates’ departure usher in open source friendly era at Microsoft? | Open Source | ZDNet.com

[p24t]

It's not final yet. There's 4 countries who have filed appeals against the (apparently stuffed) vote.

Microsoft admits to standards ignorance pre-OOXML - ZDNet.co.uk

And I have no doubt that MS will embrace OSS if/when they run out of options. (which may be the case)

[tgx]

Originally Posted by Bill Brock

OOXML has already been accepted as a standard. Good or bad.
Here is another article indicating MS' changing attitude toward OSS. And all the MS bashing in the world won't change this fact.
Will Bill Gates’ departure usher in open source friendly era at Microsoft? | Open Source | ZDNet.com

I don't see how pointing out the obvious is MS bashing.
MS is hurting because of the strangling license model it has laid out for itself. In a green era, tying OS to hardware is insane. I've had the same PC case, power supply, cdrom
and floppy drive for 13 years. Under current MS rules, how many times would I have had to relicense Windows and Office?

There are more problems with MS than just their aversion to open source.
In fact I'd wager MS doesn't really have a problem with open source per se...as
long as it's written to run on the Windows platform. But this is where MS shows its ugly side, they want to own all of the best software for their platform and they do that by obscuring details so that only they have access to the best and fastest features. Why do you think the EU has sued them repeatedly for poor documentation?

MS' biggest problem, as I see it, is with the Linux kernel platform which has the open API that devs are looking for. The detraction for Linux is that perhaps it is too open and unpredictable in its configuration. That's where MS and Apple have the advantage

Frankly I run nearly equal amounts of open source on my Windows servers as I do on Linux. In fact, I am sure if someone spent the time you could run Zimbra on Windows as well. Ultimately I don't care Windows versus Linux versus OSX, I just want to get work done at the lowest cost to the business and at the highest quality that I can deliver.

MS isn't the leader of the value proposition just now. Fortunately for them it's something they can easily fix while they still have the overwhelming familiarity and install base. The question is will they? Windows could just as easily be in Linux's position and Sun is attempting a coup right now with Open Solaris, will we see Open Windows? Unlikely, but you may yet see MSLinux. Actually it makes a great deal of sense.