I don't mean to sound combative, but if you are right, and they are playing divide and conquer, then it seems to be working. The way to fight against that kind of strategy is to stay united, but over and over, I seem to see that people are (probably correctly) identifying the strategy that MS is using, then still playing into it anyway, with variations on the phrase, "You're either with us, or against us."
Frankly, the way I see these company's deals with MS, it's them that are getting over on MS. They are getting real technology in exchange for a small amount of PR that MS thinks is beneficial to them. The gotcha is, that it isn't really - Shuttleworth gets that right in this blog post. MS is basically giving away stuff for free, and the Linux companies are taking them up on that offer. I see nothing wrong with drinking free beer, especially if it's on Microsoft's tab. |
