NEWS: Anti-Linux Plan by Microsoft Failed
This seem's like a pretty interesting story I was reading while browsing yahoo.com I got it from there so ofcourse you can see it there, but here it goes:
Anti-Linux Plan Fails
Software giant Microsoft's efforts to disparage the open source software initiative have backfired, the company admitted in an internal memo posted at OpenSource.org.
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The memo detailed the results of Microsoft's Attitudes Towards Shared Source and Open Source Research Project, and was presented at a Microsoft internal Linux (news - web sites) Strategic Review in Berlin, Germany, in September 2002.
The research project aimed to improve Microsoft's understanding of how certain groups perceive open source, Linux, Shared Source and the GPL (General Public License), according to the memo, and to understand which messages would be effective with each audience.
The group that posted the memo, the Open Source Initiative, is a nonprofit corporation that manages and prootes the open source effort.
Positive Messages Strike Chord
According to the document, telephone interviews with developers, managers and business leaders in the United States, Brazil, France, Germany, Sweden and Japan were conducted between late July and September 2001.
"Messages that criticize OSS, Linux, & the GPL are NOT effective," the study found. And messages that aim to undermine the open source effort "are only marginally effective in driving unfavorable opinions around OSS, Linux, and the GPL, and in some cases backfire."
In contrast, the memo noted that more positive messages "are very effective -- both across geographies and audiences."
Microsoft was unavailable for comment. The company did confirm the memo's authenticity to news source on Wednesday.
Microsoft's survey also found more than 80 percent of all respondents were familiar with open source, and 78 percent with Linux. Fully 86 percent said they had a favorable impression of Linux. Japanese respondents had the highest amount of familiarity with open source and Linux.
Forty percent of respondents cited open source's low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) as among the top reasons they supported it, while nearly one-third said their attraction resulted from open source's status as "an alternative to Microsoft."
Microsoft also measured respondents' familiarity with its own Shared Source effort, finding that a majority had not heard of the initiative, though 47 percent had a "positive" reaction once they did learn about it.
Linux Deployment Notable
But a quarter of developers worldwide told Microsoft they are interested in broad deployment of Linux within their company, with German and Japanese developers leading the way.
The company's findings mirror what some analysts have predicted about the use of open source,and specifically Linux, applications at the enterprise level. "Right now, some people are actually saying, 'We're going to defect,' [but] that class is in the minority," Yankee Group senior analyst Laura DiDio told the E-Commerce Times.
A recent Yankee Group survey noted that 38 percent of respondents said they are considering alternatives to Microsoft products since the company's new licensing structure was announced.
"Where you would find the actual defection -- and it's not a mass movement, it's more around the fringes -- are the smaller organizations," said DiDio, "for example, school districts that have said, 'Hey, we can't afford this.'"