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Ballmer: United, we'll stomp on Linux        By Peter Judge
Copyrigth &
Special to CNET News.com    September 24, 2002, 9:26 AM PT
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-959165.html

Microsoft's taking a leaf out of Linux's book to fight off its
open-source
rival--it's calling its dedicated band of supporters to arms.

Although the software company cannot compete against Linux on
price, the company
will use its community of professionals to outsmart the open-source
movement,
CEO Steve Ballmer told an    audience of Microsoft Most Valued
Professionals
(MVPs) in London on Monday.

"Linux is a serious competitor," said Ballmer. "We have to compete
with free
software on value, but in a smart way. We cannot price at zero, so
we need to
justify our posture and pricing. Linux isn't    going to go
away--our job is to
provide a better product in the marketplace."

He acknowledged there was more to Linux than free software--the
main benefit of
the open-source movement was the community developing software and
sharing
ideas. "Linux is not about free    software, it is about
community," he said.
"It's not like Novell, it isn't going to run out of money--it
started off
bankrupt, in a way."

Technology like clustering would be better in Windows than Linux
eventually,
said Ballmer: "We will beat Linux on clusters. We can't beat them
on price, but
we have to add value."

The MVP initiative will be a big part of Microsoft's efforts to
promote a sense
of "community" among users and developers, connecting its own
product developers
with the users most in touch with    product issues.

Microsoft is considering extending its shared-source initiative,
currently
limited to large users such as governments and universities, to
MVPs. This would
give them smart-card access to much of    the Windows source code,
Ballmer said.
There will be a decision on this in the next couple of months, said
Lori Moore,
vice president of product support services at Microsoft. "There are
many options
on the table," she said. "There are many ways to be more open, and
we are
reviewing ideas."

For nine years, the company has designated users with particular
skills--usually
seen by how often they intervene helpfully in newsgroups--as "most
valued
professionals". Currently there are about 1,200 MVPs, half of whom
are in the
United States.

The title is highly regarded, said Thomas Lee, a Windows 2000 MVP
who
specializes in directory issues, and has just been appointed as
chief
technologist at QA Training. "You are recognized by your peers, not
by an exam
that you can cheat in."

Linux and its community have a symbiotic relationship, Lee said:
"You don't have
that same thing at Microsoft, but there are people who are
passionate and
technical who are committed to doing a great job."

While Ballmer stopped short of advocating Microsoft's old "security
through
obscurity" policy, he pointed out that publicly posting bug fixes
often prompted
attacks. "The hacker waits till a fix is posted, then writes an
attack and sends
it out," he said. Such attacks are based on information in the fix.
The answer
is to make sure that fixes are easier to distribute and implement
so the user
base is up to date, he said.

Asked by one lateral-thinking MVP whether Microsoft planned to offer
applications software on Linux, Ballmer said no, adding that the
big issue was a
reluctance to accept legal liability for open-source software.

"We do not anticipate offering software on Linux," said Ballmer.
"Nobody pays
for software on Linux." Even StarOffice, sold by Sun, was
originally a free
product, he said. And IBM, arguably the No. 1 player in the Linux
market,
promotes Linux to big users, but does not actually sell Linux:
"It's weird. IBM
says 'Hey British Aerospace! Buy Linux...from SuSE.'"
  

Terima Kasih.
-- 
Surabaya 60116 Indonesia

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