In what is standard operating procedure for Microsoft, they created multiple licenses with varying degrees of openness in them. None of them are actually open. That would be crazy. Just like with their Vista licenses, they were designed to cause confusion and lead the end user to into a position that they don’t actually want to find themselves in. Their shenanigans with the Vista licensing earned them a class action lawsuit. The same shenanigans with their open licensing earned them approval from the less observant open source community.

Before you write me off as another of the legion of Microsoft haters, let me just say that I’m a terrible FOSS disciple. I think Richard Stallman is one of the craziest people ever to don a robe and funny hat. In my humble opinion, the type of exposure that he generated hurt the acceptance of open software more than Microsoft ever could. In fact, I would say that they couldn’t have paid for better anti-FOSS exposure.

I don’t harbor any ill feelings towards Microsoft. You can’t be angry at them. Everyone has known the type of company that MS was from the very beginning when they bought their first OS. They don’t innovate. They take others’ innovations and make money off of them.

My frustration is pointed more towards the idiots heading the open source movement. From the very beginning, they have been the brunt of Microsoft’s attempts to destroy the open source movement in it’s entirity. Microsoft squashed the OEMs’ repeated attempts to install open operating systems from the factory. They funded SCO’s attempt to prove in court that they owned the Unix code found in every linux operating system. You name a dirty, underhanded and unethical method of squashing competition and I can probably show you record of it being used by Microsoft as part of their business model. In spite of this, the FOSS community continue pandering to Microsoft’s appeals to just try it one more time. They promise that this time they really do want to be part of the open source movement. You know, because it makes them so much money.

I guess the open community’s trust in Microsoft’s intentions has stemmed from Microsoft’s ambiguity towards their goal and beliefs. If only there were some way for the open community to know what kind of scoundrels they’re dealing with.