Everything OK with Microsoft? Windows giant admits it was 'on the wrong side of history' with regard to open source
- Reference: 1589556612
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/15/microsoft_brad_smith_open_source/
- Source link:
While nowadays the [1]born-again company seems unable to resist the embrace (if that's the right word) of the open-source world, it was not always so.
Former CEO Steve Ballmer memorably declared that [2]"Linux is a cancer" back in the day. Goodness, how times have changed in Redmond.
"Microsoft," said Smith during a chat hosted by [3]MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab (CSAIL) , "was on the wrong side of history when open source exploded at the beginning of the century and I can say that about me personally."
He added: "The good news is that, if life is long enough, you can learn... that you need to change."
Indeed. Although judging by our [4]response to our recent [5]Name-a-Microsoft piece, the company still has a way to go before the sins of the past have been fully expunged.
Smith himself has penned a succession of hand-wringing articles over the years, from cheering progress on [6]facial-recognition regulation to [7]standing up for the Microsoft employees that are recipients of the US's Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) programme. Heck, he even talked [8]AI and ethics with the Pope (although we'd wager His Holiness was more interested in finding out how Windows 10 1809 managed to do that to his computer).
As a reminder, Microsoft has [9]cheerfully flogged technology to America's controversial Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, as has its [10]newly acquired tentacle GitHub . Smith did not address this as he talked up the source shack: "We see our responsibility as its steward to make it a secure, productive home for [developers]."
The MIT CSAIL "Hot Topics in Computing" fireside chat also heard the resounding clang of a name dropping to the ground as Smith described a meeting with former US president Barack Obama.
Donald Trump's predecessor warned that a reckoning over surveillance and the data held on private individuals was headed the tech giants' way over the coming years: "There will be a moment when the demands that you're placing on the government will be placed on you as well."
"I thought that was a very insightful comment at the time and I wrote it down. I looked around and was struck that no one else was writing it down," said a modest Smith.
If only he'd thought to pass his carefully written notes on to the Microsoft team responsible for slurping data from customer's computers. [11]That whole European nastiness could so easily have been avoided.
Lessons from the past aside, Smith did have sensible advice for those hoping that apps will be the panacea for the pandemic today. "It's a belt-and-suspenders approach," he said. "We still will need public health officers to interview individuals who test positive, even if they've been using an app on their smartphone."
"We can't base our planning on the assumption that everyone will have this app," he added, before highlighting the importance of data in the making of decisions related to public health during the coronavirus outbreak. This is something that lawmakers would do well to consider. ®
[1] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/18/microsoft_has_developed_its_own_linux_repeat_microsoft_has_developed_its_own_linux/
[2] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/06/02/ballmer_linux_is_a_cancer/
[3] https://www.csail.mit.edu/event/conversation-microsoft-president-brad-smith
[4] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/15/microsoft_regism/
[5] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/07/what_to_call_microsoft/
[6] https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2020/03/31/washington-facial-recognition-legislation/
[7] https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2019/11/08/standing-up-for-every-dreamer/
[8] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/02/14/microsoft_meets_pope/
[9] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/06/20/microsoft_ceo_nadella_we_only_do_legacy_emails_for_ice/
[10] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2019/10/10/microsoft_github_ice/
[11] https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/10/14/microsoft_faces_dutch_crunch_over_windows_10_data_slurp/
Re: So...
With Microsoft, I find that what they say one day, may not be true in a week, or a month, etc.
Also: Embrace, Extend, Extinguish.
You cannot argue the fact that they own the office desktop and a good portion of the servers, but the inconsistent quality and performance is detrimental to their reputation. You'd be hard pressed to find an office worker who will tell you they LOVE Microsoft!
So bravo to the gentleman for being able to admit he made a mistake, and that open source is a force to be reckoned with, but I'll wait a bit before agreeing that Microsoft is a champion of open source.
Re: So...
His words " "The good news is that, if life is long enough, you can learn... "
To see a way to make a profit from something you saw as an enemy.
What a pity....
...we've not forgotten that the last part of the policy is "extinguish." A read of the Techrights web site any day of the week is a reminder that the leopard has not yet changed its shorts.
My Hope
My relationship with Bloat 10 (company computer) is pure hatred of the evil abomination. My hope would be the Rejects from Redmond would ditch Bloat in favor something that is stabler and generally works. Until the Rejects get their act together I will try to avoid their trash whenever possible.
Its not just Microsoft. ~50% of developers agreed that "open-source" is bad. I feel these "kinds" of professionals should be put on an offenders register and have to admit that they make bad decisions during any interviews or on their CV.
That way, it lowers the risk that I ever need to work with them again :)
So...
15 years from now, a future MS exec will express much the same sentiment about the choice of the wrong side in history over customer privacy RE: 'Telemetry'.
Do you think?