Onze vriend Gates vindt dat er geen toekomst zit in Linux en andere gratis Open Source zachtwaar. In werkelijkheid probeert-ie te zeggen dat-ie in z'n broek scheit van angst voor de snelle en oncontroleerbare ontwikkelingen op het Open Source terrein. De reactie van The Register:
Of course it takes Bill to argue that Windows is a single product (we think we counted 14 existing and projected variants recently), and Microsoft's own internal documentation (Halloween) is ample evidence that the company is impressed by the speed of Linux development, testing and debugging. That very documentation admits Microsoft can't keep up with Linux development. What Gates is really saying is that he reckons the historical Microsoft strategy of building ever more complicated and intertwined software will continue to succeed. In the past this has had the effect of pricing rival software developers out of the market, and this process has been aided and abetted by Microsoft's ability to use control of the platform to change the rules -- thus undermining rival development efforts some more. But Microsoft now faces an operation that isn't damaged by Microsoft current control of the platform, whose development economics are not dependent on making as much money as Microsoft, and which is beginning to provide a serious challenge to the keystone of the whole lot -- Microsoft control of the platform.
