October 5th, 2008
Microsoft bad cop is up against the wall
Microsoft is back to its “bad cop” routine again.
(This League of Cliche Evil Super-Villains appeared at Geekologie in January. Also available as a t-shirt. By Joshua Kemble.)
This time they are offering Windows-only code on their “open source” CodePlex site. It’s not that this is technically impossible. It’s just prohibited by license.
What is at issue here is the so-called Microsoft Limited Permission License, a non-OSI approved license once thought replaced.
While most observers are busy dumping on Microsoft for violating open source principles, I prefer to point out where the bad cop is now as opposed to where it was a while ago.
Microsoft today is in retreat against open source. Think of them as a football team that keeps starting drives deeper in their own end, or an army conducting harrying raids to cover its loss of territory.
Ot think of them as a politician holding rallies in ballrooms rather than stadiums, a singer trying to fill theaters where they once packed hockey arenas.
However you play the analogy, the fact is that each time Microsoft goes back-and-forth like this, it does so from a weaker position.
Last time they played this game they were pushing OOXML as an ISO standard. Before that they were promising to bury open source in patent suits.
Now they’re trying to sneak semi-proprietary code on their own site.
It’s like a crime boss getting arrested for pickpocketing. Lex Luthor gets a parking ticket, and pays it. Godzilla has become Reptar.
So instead of taking deep umbrage, I’m just sad. You want a super villain to be, well, super. Not silly.
Dana Blankenhorn has been a business journalist for 30 years, a tech freelancer since 1983. You can follow Dana on Twitter. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
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| 10/05/08
