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August 22, 2006 10:14 AM PDT
Microsoft reaches out to Firefox developers
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Sam Ramji, the director of Microsoft's open-source software lab, posted an open invitation for them to work with the software giant on a Mozilla development discussion group mailing list Monday.
"I'm writing to see if you are open to some 1:1 support in getting Firefox and Thunderbird to run on Vista," Ramji wrote. Mozilla oversees the development of the open-source Firefox Web browser and Thunderbird e-mail client.
He stressed that Microsoft is "committed to evolving our thinking beyond commercial companies to include open-source projects" for Vista, the update to the Windows operating system due for broad release in January.
Ramji was also anxious that Mozilla and the open-source community should not take the offer lightly. He stressed that his contribution to Vista is the "nontrivial effort of getting slots for noncommercial open-source projects."
Early signs from the open-source community indicate that some are suspicious of Microsoft's motives.
But others believe that Monday's offer was a sign that Microsoft is changing. The company has finally realized that "ultimately...proprietary technologies will always get replaced by an industry-supported, open-standard alternative, hence the embrace of RSS, Open Source Lab, XML and royalty-free access to Open XML," one enthusiast wrote in a posting to the Ars Technica Web site.
Firefox already runs successfully on existing Windows, Linux and Macintosh operating systems. Testing by ZDNet UK Reviews found that it also runs well in Vista beta 2, so it's not clear why Mozilla would need help from Microsoft.
Mozilla Europe said it was "too early to comment" on Microsoft's offer.
Colin Barker of ZDNet UK reported from London.
See more CNET content tagged:
Mozilla Corp.,
open source,
open-source community,
Firefox,
Mozilla Thunderbird
Or more likely, is this just a big PR stunt?
I've used IE7 and have had nothing but problems with it cruising a variety of web material... So I'm thinking they're looking for some insight from Firefox.
Why would they go to Redmond? Why doesn't MS just look at the code and help them out? This is very suspicious.
If folks think that Firefox works better in Linux (okay, IMHO it does), and they use it because (perception or not) IE is an outright hazard for surfing, then they may indeed be tempted to try the (to them) new OS. OTOH, if FF works just hunky-dory on Windows, they'll stick with Windows, thinking that they're still perfectly safe (they are safer than by using IE to hit web pages, but still...)
/P
One of the main reasons is that if Open Source software truly becomes mainstream it would effectively hurt MS in areas where Windows and Office are concerned.
Software like Firefox and Open Office can be offered to the public either for free or to a fraction of the cost for retail versions of any MS product to any operating system besides Windows; if this type of software was exclusive to Linux and Mac, businesses looking for more affordable alternatives to MS licensed products would certainly look at these other OS products.
Also extending a hand to the Open Source community allows MS control over the development of these products as to how MS wants these products to work in Windows; MS does not want independent software developers to start "peeking and poking" in Vista to find advantages or holes that could either outshine a competing MS product or create a new security hole.
And a third reason is that MS wants to avoid the monopoly label that has been slapped on it by both the US and EU, making it to change its overwhelming marketing muscle.
Open Source should work with MS on a limited basis - asking for developer technical support but not under any type of developer guidelines that can help MS get an edge over its competition.
My two cents,
Ned
Microsoft is probably offering assistance to Firefox so that once they do become a part of the Firefox open source effort, their contributions can go down into the record books as showing Microsoft did in fact support open source projects. If there is any future litigation against Microsoft regarding browsers, Microsoft can open that record book and announce to the court that they did in fact work with the competition. On a case-by-case basis, it could actually work in favor of Microsoft.
- Cnet reports that Microsoft makes an offer to Mozilla folks to make Vista beta builds available and give them access to OS devs if there are problems with Firefox on Vista.
- all the CNET knuckleheads go crazy about how 'evil' Microsoft is just trying to pull some nefarious stunt.
Do you folks all live in a fantasy cartoon world? Why does this have to be some sort of mafioso plot where Microsoft wants to whack the other boss after inviting him to a 'sitdown'?
Let me help you figure this out - Firefox is a really popular application. Microsoft benefits when really popular applications run properly on Windows, especially because people keep buying Windows so they can run their really popular applications.
Is there really more to it than this? Nope.
Not sure how many of you remember the spin Microsoft used to say Windows XP boots faster than Windows 2000. All they did was present the login screen before everything finished loading. It still took LONGER to get to the desktop and start working, but you got to type in your password faster.
- Sharks are circling the Penquins in Open Waters...
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by Llib Setag
August 23, 2006 12:41 PM PDT
- "Come die/play with us, we want to eat/help you experience the Vista point of view..."
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See all 72 Comments >>said the Great White MShark to the Open Source/Linux tiny fish in the Open Seas of Technology.
MS is the JAWS of the technology Water World.