thelinuxlink.net

I've been listening for a couple of months now, and I know that the Tech Team is sometimes loathe to discuss Microsoft issues, but this was too good to pass up. In an interview about a number of issues, Bill Gates states the following about MS's "altruism":

In fact, they [Google] have this slogan that they are going to organise the world's information. Our slogan is that we are going to give people tools to let them organise the world's information.

http://insight.zdnet.co.uk/software/windows/0,39020478,39218129,00.htm

Besides this being a steaming pile of dog squeeze, it almost sounds like an attempt to co-opt the free/open source software movements. That kind of language is more what I would expect from Torvalds, ESR, or RMS, not from Bill Gates. While I don't believe that Google is pure and innocent, I can't imagine MS "giving" people tools and empowering them in the way that the free and open source movements have done.

brakthepoet wrote: Besides this being a steaming pile of dog squeeze, it almost sounds like an attempt to co-opt the free/open source software movements. That kind of language is more what I would expect from Torvalds, ESR, or RMS, not from Bill Gates. While I don't believe that Google is pure and innocent, I can't imagine MS "giving" people tools and empowering them in the way that the free and open source movements have done.

It seemed to me that "give" means "provide," not "give away for free." When I get to the front of the line at McDonald's and say "give me a Big Mac (tm) and a Coke," I still expect to have to pay for it.

Seems like this is just standard Microsoft technique. They see that Google has a good thing going, so they're trying to move in on it and cash in. I thought it was funny that he said web services required stability and security, and implied that Microsoft products were more stable and secure.

Interesting article.