Dear Lavinniah,<br>Having looked at your remarks, I want to assure you that this debate is still very relevant and means a big deal when looked at from the larger perspective. But its understandable when you try to trivialize the matter so that you can still remain in the game. And the proprietary software development model is fast being overtaken by the fast developments in technology and is steadily approaching its death bed.<br>
<br>Especially regarding Microsoft's involvement with open source, I would like to share with you (and everyone), some remarks that I came across from Jon "maddog" Hall regarding this claim. The following is an excerpt from his comments:<br>
<br>"<br>Microsoft and Open Source<br>
================<br>
<br>
Finally, I have been made aware of the claim of Microsoft that "they<br>
support open source". Microsoft supports open source like I support<br>
farmers. I need farmers to provide me with the food so I can stay<br>
alive, but that does not mean that I actively go out and help them plow.<br>
<br>
Microsoft's contributions as a company have been to projects in making<br>
sure that those popular FOSS projects like PHP and Apache run on their<br>
closed-source operating systems. If these projects did not run well,<br>
then Microsoft's operating systems would be even less useful.<br>
<br>
As to their contributions to the Linux kernel, most of these were in the<br>
areas of Virtualization, to allow Microsoft operating systems to useful<br>
on top of a Linux Server in a virtualized environment. Again, they are<br>
strictly to keep Microsoft viable in the enterprise, not that Microsoft<br>
"embraces Free Software".<br>
<br>
I will also say that individual employees of Microsoft ARE contributors<br>
to FOSS projects, but these are mostly volunteers, and have nothing to<br>
do with Microsoft's business strategy or love of FOSS as a company.<br>
<br>
Microsoft's "Focus on Interoperability" has some strange illustrations,<br>
such as the time that Microsoft changed their JAVA implementation so it<br>
was incompatible with the others, or the time they changed Kerberos so<br>
it was incompatible with Kerberos from MIT (the one that every other<br>
operating system uses), or the fight they had to try an knock out ODF as<br>
a data format and have OOXML (their "standard") in its<br>
place...fortunately losing on the last example.<br>
"<br><br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Tue, Sep 18, 2012 at 9:56 PM, Lavinniah Muthoni (Human Capital Synergies) <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:v-lavinm@microsoft.com" target="_blank">v-lavinm@microsoft.com</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div link="blue" vlink="purple" lang="EN-US">
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b>Please see below Microsoft’s official company statement in response to the Open Source Vs Proprietary Software.<u></u><u></u></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">The open source versus proprietary software debate is no longer relevant. Most customers today operate diverse environments and simply want their technology to work together well, hence the need to focus on interoperability.
At Microsoft, w<span>e help customers optimize their existing IT infrastructure while also transitioning to new technologies.
</span>We help solve their interoperability challenges and find efficient and cost effective solutions for their mixed IT environments.<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Microsoft’s commitment to ‘openness’ also supports developers and partners. We have built close partnerships with the PHP, Apache, and Linux open source communities. (According to the
<a href="http://www.linuxfoundation.org/news-media/announcements/2012/04/linux-foundation-releases-annual-linux-development-report" target="_blank">
<span style="color:windowtext;text-decoration:none">Linux Foundation</span></a>, Microsoft is ranked as a top contributor to Linux.)
<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Customers are at the heart of our approach. We enable customers to deploy and manage solutions in environments that integrate Microsoft and open source technologies. Multiple engineering teams at Microsoft actively participate in open source
projects and share the common industry view that software users will continue to see a mixed IT and development environment for years to come<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:16.2pt;background:white"><b><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Kind Regards,<u></u><u></u></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:16.2pt;background:white"><b><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">Lavinniah Muthoni | Public Relations & Events Manager | Microsoft East and Southern Africa | Phone</span></b><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:#1f497d">
<a href="tel:%2B254%2020%20286%208245" value="+254202868245" target="_blank">+254 20 286 8245</a> <b>| Mobile</b> <a href="tel:%2B254%20735414028" value="+254735414028" target="_blank">+254 735414028</a> <b>| Fax</b> <a href="tel:%2B254%2020%20272%202999" value="+254202722999" target="_blank">+254 20 272 2999</a> <b>
|</b> <b>Office</b> 7th Floor, I & M Bank Building, 2nd Ngong Avenue, Capital Hill, P.O. Box 64736, 00620 Nairobi, Kenya
<b>| <u></u><u></u></b></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span> </span><span lang="PT"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:16.2pt;background:white"><b><span style="font-size:8.0pt;font-family:"Segoe UI","sans-serif";color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
</div>
</div>
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</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br><b>----------------------------------------------------<br>Kind Regards,<br>Evans Ikua,</b><br><a href="http://lanetconsulting.com" target="_blank">lanetconsulting.com</a>,<br>
<a href="http://lpi-eastafrica.org" target="_blank">lpi-eastafrica.org</a>,<br><a href="http://ict-innovation.fossfa.net" target="_blank">ict-innovation.fossfa.net</a>,<br>Skype: @ikuae<br>Cell: <a href="tel:%2B254-722-955831" value="+254722955831" target="_blank">+254-722-955831</a><br>
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