Ex-Microsoftie: Free Software Will Kill Redmond
Bill Gates probably will not sing the praises of Keith Curtis, a programmer with Microsoft for 11 years who's now left the fold and written a book about why the Redmond way will fail. Oh yeah, Curtis is not afraid to speak his mind as a Linux guru, either.
The mantra Curtis repeats throughout his book "After the Software Wars": proprietary software is holding us back as a society.
In the book, Curtis says that while proprietary software made Microsoft one of the most successful companies of all time, it's a model destined to fail because it doesn't let software programmers cooperate and contribute, and thus stifles innovation.
Curtis did programming work on Windows, Office and research at Microsoft and never actually used Linux, he says, until he quit his job in late 2004. The ensuing years have made him a Linux fanatic, and he is convinced that free, open-source software is technically superior. As long as Microsoft and its proprietary model dominate, Curtis says, we will live in "the dark ages of computing."
In an interview with CIO.com's Shane O'Neill, Curtis discusses the rise of free software, Linux's role in what he calls the inevitable fall of software's biggest giant and ... robot-driven cars.
In what ways will free software be Microsoft's undoing?
Free software will lead to the demise of Microsoft as we know it in two ways.
First, the free software community is producing technically superior products through an open, collaborative development model. People think of Wikipedia as an encyclopedia, and not primarily software, but it is an excellent case study of this coming revolution.
There are also many pieces of free software that have demonstrated technical superiority to their proprietary counterparts. Firefox is widely regarded by Web developers as superior to Internet Explorer. The Linux kernel runs everything from cellphones to supercomputers. Even Apple threw away their proprietary kernel and replaced it with a free one.
Second, free software undermines Microsoft's profit margins. Even if Microsoft were to adopt Linux - a thought experiment I consider in the afterword of my book - their current business model would be threatened. There are many ways for hardware and service companies to make money using free software, but these are not Microsoft's sources of revenues.
Free products like Linux and Google Docs currently comprise only a tiny proportion of their respective markets compared to Microsoft. What will it take for free software to truly catch on with consumers and businesses as you predict it will? And how long will that take?
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Same Old Story or Arguements
Same arguements different article and person. Linux is not going to take over the desktop market, Firefox is not going to close down Microsoft in the browser market. Open Source software is not going to shut down Microsoft, and Microsoft is not going any where. Bacially it comes down to fanboys spouting the same thing over and over again with no evidence that really supports their claims. If you have not noticed the numbers state the exact opposite.I agree with the prevous comment
Will Microsoft need to expand into other areas to continue profits at the same levels, yes. However, Microsoft will be here for a long time. What this and other Linux "Guru's" don't get is that people want things to work. While Ubuntu is looking pretty good it still isn't quite mainstream yet. I think it is going to be interesting to see how well "Mi" from HP does and the Android OS do. The Office products are still the standard and Open office, etc still have to support it. As for browsers who cares there are dozens of them and none of them have a great bottom line and are "freeware".I also agree with the comments
I have been an IT professional for the past 10 years (ColdFusion Developer...so not just a MS fanboy) and it amazes me that some many so called IT professional rags can continually publish this crap. It's like the articles that pop up every year touting ColdFusion as a dead language, even though it just released a new version last summer and has another in beta now. It also sure has kept me employed. When are you guys going to realize that this is just making you the IT version of Fox News? MS is here to stay because they put out products that people want withhte features they want. Vista is an awesome OS and the only folks I hear complaining about it are the so called professionals you have writing for you (and your fellow rags) that don't seem to be in touch with reality. How about publish stuff that actually helps us guys(and girls of course ;-)) in the trenches instead of sounding like a bunch of luddites who don;t have a clue about technology?