The Microsoft Memo

[Renew Deal]

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.02/microsoft.html

Bill Gates hires open source icon Linus Torvalds? That was just the beginning of Redmond's hybrid strategy to face the free software age.

From the office of Linus Torvald
DATE: 10.31.2008
TO: BILL
FROM: LINUS
RE: Will Steve kill WinX?

When you hired me three years ago, you had to realize that I was going to speak my mind, no matter what the consequences. You told me that if I ever hit a wall with Steve or his people, I should let you know. Well, here goes. (Yes, again.)

After all our technical and strategic conflicts, I bet you never guessed we'd be at each other's throats over a matter of pronunciation. But the fact is, when Steve goes to a marketing meeting, as he did yesterday, and pronounces our desktop system "Winux," he jeopardizes not only my personal reputation, but, more important, the very foundation of our business and software approach for the next decade. The desktop system is not "Winux," as in Linux. As he knows very well. WinX is pronounced like "winks."

Why is this important? Because the name WinX was not random. It was deliberately chosen to express the strategy behind a 24-month engineering marathon inside Microsoft. We've built a Windows desktop and application framework around a Linux operating system, and both sides of this equation - open source and proprietary - are needed for our plan to continue to work. By talking about "Winux," Steve blurs the distinction between Linux and WinX. Worse, he implies that we have taken over Linux for our own selfish ends. This makes the development community nervous, slows contributions from coders, and creates a huge amount of unnecessary noise.

Steve prefers to bury the origins of WinX because he has never been a true supporter. Even after admitting I was right and positioning himself to reclaim a leadership role, he seems to think that we can return to the days of monopoly power. I know you've said you won't play referee anymore, but I want my version on the record with you because sooner or later this is going to make it up to the board.
<snip>

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.02/microsoft.html

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

1. HA.. you had me there, till I looked at the date... yeah, 3 years

hence, I wonder if we will be obsessing about MS at all?