For years now Microsoft has been saying how “evil” the GPL is. But in the the same time frame Linux has won it’s place in the server rooms of Microsoft’s biggest customers. If those customers want interoperability Microsoft had better listen.
Microsoft is only dominant on the desktop and there is a move these days to thin client computing. As more and more applications move back into the server room, so the reliance on a Windows desktop becomes less and less. This has to be a worry of the bosses in Redmond.
We also need to take the release of Vista into account. Five years ago Microsoft was able to force XP onto the business world. Can it do the same with Vista? I think the answer to that question, right now, is yes? Right now I don’t think the business world is ready to switch away from Windows on mass. But in three or so years time when VistaPlusOne comes along – that is a different story.
The Linux desktop has come a long way in the last five years. How much better is it going to be in three years time? The other challenger is OSX. While I can’t see Apple making OSX run on the same array of PC hardware that Windows and Linux can, I can see Apple doing deals with Dell and the other big PC manifactures to allow OSX to run on a limited set of their hardware. So if the rollout of Vista goes badly and costs business a lot of money IT departments may start looking around for a replacement to the Windows desktop.
Five and more years ago the IT world was divided into “the heterogenous server room”, the “Microsoft desktop” and a few other “also rans”. Since then we’ve had the anti-trust cases against Microsoft, MA and the ODF, and an acceptance of Linux as a enterprise capable OS. So today the picture is much more like a split into the camps of “Microsoft Windows” and “everything else”.
Microsoft needs to join the rest of us, and it needs to do it for good business reasons. If the IT world is moving towards open solutions, which they are slowly, then Microsoft needs to be part of the place they are moving too.
They can’t just turn round and embrance the GPL. But maybe the first step is to find some lackey to change GPL code to work better with Microsoft’s own technologies. That way they can claim that Windows is interoperable with everyone else. That way they can claim that using their products does not deprivate you of sovereignty over your own data.
