From: Max M (maxm@maxmcorp.dk)
Date: Tue Nov 03 1998 - 05:17:00 MST
Well many of you are probably already aware of this document, but here is a
link. An interresting read for those interrested in open source software.
{ The body of the Halloween Document is an internal strategy memorandum on
Microsoft's possible responses to the Linux/Open Source phenomenon. It
smells too strongly of Microsoft's unique corporate culture (as revealed by
independent resources such as The Borg) to be other than genuine.
The list of collaborators mentioned at the end includes some people who are
known to be key players at Microsoft, and the document reads as though the
research effort had the cooperation of top management; it may even have been
commissioned as a policy white paper for Bill Gates's attention (the author
seems to have expected that Gates would read it).
Accordingly, it provides us with a very valuable look past Microsoft's
dismissive marketing spin about Open Source at what the company is actually
thinking -- which, as you'll see, is an odd combination of astuteness and
institutional myopia.
Since the author quoted my analyses of open-source community dynamics (The
Cathedral and the Bazaar) and Homesteading the Noosphere) extensively, it
seems fair that I should respond on behalf of the community. :-)
http://www.tuxedo.org/~esr/halloween.html
Hilsen/regards
Max M Rasmussen
New Media Director
Denmark
Work:
mailto:maxm@normik.dk
http://www.normik.dk
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http://www.maxmcorp.dk
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