Is Google the new Microsoft and Microsoft the new Google?
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VaXeclS2UNU
LBRY: https://open.lbry.com/@Lunduke:e/is-google-the-new-microsoft-and:5
Article / Audio Podcast: https://lunduke.com/posts/2020-03-26/
@lunduke Microsoft has always followed in IBM's footsteps, and Google is following in Microsoft's. Microsoft is currently at the phase where IBM spray painted Tux on SF sidewalks.
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@lightweight @lunduke It's easy to forget that IBM was once seen as MS was 20 years ago and Google is now. I'm unclear how the MS in your example is different from the IBM of the spraypaint Tux era. They hired Linux developers from proceeds came from proprietary mainframe software and services.
Once difference is at the time the Linux community was desperate for a giant in its corner so they were more willing to embrace what before then was the original evil 800lb gorilla.
@kyle @lunduke true. Now Microsoft is trying a different (bolder) approach from IBM - they're engaging in EEE. They're hoping to co-opt open source (and kill Free Software in the process by casting so much shade on it) by using a few key technologies (like Github, Azure, and Active Directory) to lock people into platforms where they profit, regardless of whether people use FOSS or proprietary.
@kyle @lunduke in the intervening years, there're now "foundations" that ostensibly represent FOSS communities (in reality they have only a very tenuous grasp on representation) which can be "bought out" by rich proprietary corporate interests. This results in psychological and financial dependencies that can be used as leverage and eventually control. That's the Embrace part.
@lightweight @lunduke I'd argue that the most successful "Embrace, Extend, Extinguish" model currently in practice is Open Core https://www.linuxjournal.com/content/some-thoughts-open-core
@lightweight @kyle @lunduke The developer of NextCloud also has this experience, and has been recently giving talks on how GPL has helped his business without going the OpenCore route.
(Unlike what he was pushed into for OwnCloud)
@alcinnz @kyle @lunduke yup, I've watched @Karlitschek 's talk on the subject with interest. :)
@kyle @lunduke I agree that Open Core is an insidious and reprehensible model. I, for one, have nothing but contempt for the mercenary view promoted by Tom Preston-Werners in his "Open Source (Almost) Everything"... It's possible to have a sustainable business that's 100% FOSS even with Copyleft. I say that as someone who's made my living for the past 25 years using & producing nothing but open source (and mostly Copyleft) software.