Is Microsoft really trying to compete with FLOSS?

So Microsoft announced this week that it would stop updating it's core "enterprise" search product on Linux and Unix.  So when you have a mixed environment, like most medium and large corporations do, how is a solution without a linux or unix option still an enterprise solution.  Really how do you call this an enterprise search solution?  Easy you promise to support though not update the existing code for the next ten(10) years and help people setup Windows options.  If you are wondering why your Microsoft stock never seems to go up this would be a prime example.

By comparison to this most search solutions in the FLOSS world do offer and support Windows.  So does this mean that Microsoft has just decided it can't compete?  Hard to believe that the folks in Redmond can't seem to figure out there is money in software for Linux and BSD.  Controlling the entire stack just isn't that important anymore is it?  I guess they think so.

So does FLOSS get the win in this competion?  What do you think?

A great real world FLOSS success story....

I came across this awesome example of why Open Source Software is AWESOME.  The user was having problems between a library he was using and a vendor.  The vendors server was responding to his requests incorrectly.  The library was actually doing everything correctly.  So check out how it played out.

How do you argue with the no one to sue argument against Open Source?

In this weeks CTO-Brief we talk about how to counter the "No One to Sue Argument" against Open Source and Linux.  While less common every year the conversation keeps coming up.  Check it out and let us know how you defend against it.

Are you facing Linux and FLOSS Resistance? Let us Help....

Does your company have a strong Linux Presence?  What about other Open Source Tools like Apache, MySQL, Tomcat, or any of the Open Source Wiki's?  If not then why not? 

If you have ever asked people these questions what was the response?  What amazes me is how often Corporations are paralyzed with fear around just a few issues when it comes to FLOSS.  In this weeks article we are going to try to teach everyone how to combat one of the most common arguments we have heard against FLOSS.  We would like to write several articles explaining how we defuse or debunk most of these complaints, whines and irrational reasons against FLOSS. With your help and your feedback we will write follow-ups to this article addressing other common anti-patterns for Open Source and how we would approach countering them. 

So please leave us a comment here telling us what else to discuss.

PCMag.com...No more publication same old silly biases...

I stopped reading PCMag.com's editorial stuff years ago becuase before I became a Linux geek I was a Mac Geek.  The constant Microsoft bias then and the continued anti-FLOSS bias now still remains.  In this article the author almost sounds like he is upset that he isn't talking about the Microsoft offering since it seems to be missing completely.   What's worse about this article is that for some reason Android isn't considered FLOSS becuase it's forcing people to use Java for Application Development.  The problem with that is that Sun Open Sourced Java Years ago.  If you look into the history of Java you will see that things like Cell Phones and your Refrigerator are exactly what it was meant to be used for originally.  It was only later that people started using it for Web Stuff like most people think of it today.

Even if you ignore that little point the proposed reason why Open Source will fail to take over the cell phone market is the exact reason why it will.  Open Source projects have the ability to go viral.  They can be expanded without and often in ways the original author intended.  The carriers are protecting their bottom lines without a doubt.  But what they have learned is that it's easier to manage bandwidth with ridiculous fees than trying to control what apps run on the phone.  There is also the issue of my favorite Government Agency the FTC.  The Federal Trade Commission is pressuring even Apple and AT&T to do the open and in some cases right thing.  The bigger threat to what Apple and AT&T had going though was and is Android and the Droid line of phones being placed onto the Verizon Network.

If you haven't noticed the once thought reasonable now turned extreme app approval process at Apple has been under fire.  Apple and AT&T have heard the grumblings and are moving out of the way and trying to become more transparent about the process.  No that there is any hard proff they are going to do it and not just lip service the goverment.  It may be to little to late.  As a Droid and IPod Touch owner I can tell you that a couple more releases of Android and the Droid lines of phones will place it ahead of Apple.  Roughly the same amount of time it took Apple to take over or create the App Phone Market.

The stability of the hardware is what is important.  That is what concerns the Carriers and consumers the most.  The Carriers see these bandwidth hogging phones as profit centers no matter what OS is running.  If you think they can't find a way to preserve their cash flow you are crazy.