Community Debates M$'s Open-Source Agenda

Analysts and insiders-including Linus Torvalds-say they think that Microsoft's move to start a dialogue with the open-source community shows that the company is recognizing that open source has real, lasting value.




"It appears that Microsoft is attempting to change the environment from its currently highly charged, highly emotional state to something more constructive," said Dan Kusnetzky, IDC's system software vice president.


"Hey, I'm all for being friendly," Torvalds said. "To me, Microsoft has never been the competition, and it's never been a Linux vs. Microsoft thing, despite that obviously having been how a lot of people end up slanting it."


"Non-constructive executive rhetoric aside, there are substantial bodies of people within Microsoft that either already have or are ready to make good faith contributions to the open-source world," said Stephen O'Grady, a software analyst for RedMonk.


George Weiss, a Gartner Inc. vice president and distinguished analyst, said he doesn't buy this theory: "The people I know at Microsoft feel like they're part of an elite and they're proud of their work. Yes, some of them have interest in open source, but I don't see an internal divide with two camps warring with each other in Microsoft."


Now, this "doesn't change Microsoft's basic business premise or its position on intellectual property or its business model, but they realize that they have to play with the open-source world to be successful," Weiss said.

Yankee Group Research Inc. analyst Laura DiDio agrees.

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