[Lias] [Fwd: (Microsoft) Halloween VII: Survey Says]

[Arjen Lentz <arjen@mysql.com>]

ESR (Eric Raymond) has received yet another internal Microsoft Memo

  http://opensource.org/halloween/halloween7.php

Halloween VII: Survey Says
"The document reproduced below was presented at a Microsoft internal Linux
Strategic Review held at the Microsoft offices in Berlin during Sept. 2002.
I received it on 5 November 2002."


[Arjen comment] one of the main things is that Microsoft's research has
found that:

[snip]
"* Messages that criticize OSS, Linux, & the GPL are NOT effective.
Messaging that discusses possible Linux patent violations, pings the OSS
development process for lacking accountability, attempts to call out the
'viral' aspect of the GPL, and the like are only marginally effective in
driving unfavorable opinions around OSS, Linux, and the GPL, and in some
cases backfire. On the other hand ‘positive’ OSS, Linux, and GPL
messages are very effective - both across geographies and audiences."
[snap]

Microsoft now aims to focus on TCO (total cost of ownership), even
though their survey also showed that even for an opensource TCO equal to
Microsoft's licensing, people still saw opensource as more favourable
(with reasons like "alternative to microsoft" and "not solely dependent
on US technology").

But do read the whole thing... it's quite informative!


Cheers,
Arjen.


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