Microsoft trying to redefine "open"

             Recently I have been reading a lot about how Microsoft is becoming more open. Plenty of the articles are nice and long. The content is so bland that at the end of the article you feel "nothing". The only thing is that the word "open" will be used profusely and will be present in almost all the sentences. It is like you typed "open" 100 times and then started typing text around them. In one of the article, the author writes how Microsoft has started leveraging "open" source software instead of re-inventing the Tyre. This is what is happening. So, Microsoft will not acquire any proprietary company for an application.

               They will hunt for software available in public domain and use them without spending a single dime, which for Microsoft is definitely a major shift. This got a boost with the acquisition of github. Majority of software available on github are hobby projects satisfying the creators itch. They are now ready to use the model made famous by Apple(with Macos and webkit) and google(Android, chrome). If a piece of software is available with sufficient maturity include it. No licensing fees. Microsoft wanted a collaboration and versioning system, they went and bought github. How does a proprietary company justify acquisition of a platform used by FLOSS and OSS developers. Start rebranding the proprietary company which wants to become open.

                To this day not a single key proprietary software has been released in the open. How are they now open? But github was a key cog in the wheel of the upgrades for windows 10. Now, Microsoft wants a rolling release strategy for windows 10. That is there will not be a windows 11. github is the component Microsoft lacked. Now, the upgrades for windows 10 is much easier. With this methodology all the users are beta testers. But, the catch here is that people pay for a windows license. A wrong upgrade can be costly to the company. Now with the present acquisition, it will be easy for the company to roll back changes and release a downgrade. The best example for the openness ad per the organization is its decision of using chromium browser to replace its nonsensical attempt at browser. The worlds biggest company cannot make the most important software of the internet world. If you cannot fight them embrace them.

                     Why chromium? Holes. Microsoft likes holes. It creates holes and sells holes. To start with Microsoft cant make a browser so it cannot make a browser with good holes. So, take a browser created by a company with holes, lots of holes and made by an advertising company. What is the result of such a dangerous combo? Holes, Lots of holes(re-quoting Keanu Reaves). Now, Microsoft is "open" for business on the internet. Is google complaining? No, why? They will be getting to know the holes created by Microsoft. Together they are ever happy while exposing the consumer to the highest amount of data collection. Why didn't Microsoft fork Firefox? Just because the Xbox team is sitting beside the surface team, have they become open. Just because all its employees are sitting in open spaces, has Microsoft become open? Just because the "notepad" team is sitting beside the "office" team, are they now "open".

                  Microsoft is creating a new definition for "open". It is out to malign the word "open" create confusion among users regarding the meaning. The openness withing chronically closed systems. If the kids just sit beside parents and discuss can the system be called open. Yes withing the family, they can be called open, but doesn't mean that this family honors the society as a whole. All this PR about open is Pure PR. What is in it for the end user. Will you get a better windows experience and so on.....

          For us FLOSS enthusiasts, Until Microsoft matches the phrase "show me the code" there is no relation between the word "open" and Microsoft.

Curious case of premium phones and tablets.

People pay a premium for a certain section of phones and tablets expecting premium in terms of hardware, software, services and accessories. If we observe the trend along the evolution of phones and tablets, the more premium it is the more is it "closed". The more users have to depend on the manufacturers. Nearly zero indie development, Not "expandable" in nature particularly in terms of hardware, Maximum crapware, Forceful need creation(stylus, This may also be due to the lack of tech knowledge and design fundamentals. It is like the pen apps were designed around the pen. They should have started at the apps and then thought of how to use the fingers themselves or things which the user already carries around with him). The stylus was acceptable on a motoming not on devices(os) which have multipoint touch capability.

Let us discuss the subject w.r.t android devices. I see there is no point in discussing propreitory offerings.
If we take the case of the nexus devices, I was shocked at the ease with which the device can be converted to meet your requirement. Unlocking the device was a "breeze". After that, sky is the limit. Indie developers flourish on the nexus devices. Yes, It is not free as RMS would have liked, but, it is an excellent start. Now, these devices are exactly at the middle category w.r.t costs and the overall premium feel. The lower end of the tablets dont interest indie devs. All devs would love to have a maximum sweep when it comes to the number and variety of users.

I though that, in fact, the situation should be the other way round. The premium ones are the ones should be completely open and allow the user complete freedom of their device. Since, the user has payed a premium, Or, If we put it in business terms, He has payed in entirety for the device and services available. So, the device has to be completely "his" to tinker with. The manufacturers already know how to get out of the loop once a user tinkers with his device by making him accept long terms and conditions especially when a user unlocks his device. So, the manufacturer cannot tell us that he is locking the device for better performance during the servicing of the device.

The nexus device since has not taken the "full" amount required for offering the product and services should have been locked more tightly so that the user clings on to the manufacturer, thereby making him returns on perpetuity. Now, you tell me this is exactly what google is doing. Eh?. Instead of google sharing returns from the device with the manufacturers, why dont the manufacturers reverse the technique by making a nexus of all their premium ones and demand perpetuity from google. How awesome would that be. I dont know why the manufacturers are going behind having cheap skins on the vanilla android. This should be allowed to indie devs. Let  them come out with skins. Let them make money.

Will it happen?
It should happen. This is a pure business proposition. Not a tech discussion. This is more on the rights of a buyer. Let people/businesses concentrate on their core competency.

Let us see............

Debian GNU/Linux testing Gnome3 on a Dell lappy with ATI Graphics

This is for people having trouble having Gnome3 with its full glory without being dropped to the standby mode which is neither G3 nor G2 and very ugly. Try first installing the proprietory drivers offered by amd on their ati website. Please chose "gnome" while logging in. If not working, go ahead and try the proprietory bundle prepared by the Debian Gnu/Linux devs. For me the Debian GNU/Linux propreitory bundle worked flawlessly.  Through synaptic just search for "fgrlx" and select all the other dependencies to install. Reboot.

So, All Debian Gnu/Linux lovers, go ahead and feel the G3 goodness. G3 is very beautiful and unobtrusive. If you are interested in a little G2 way, like menus, a task bar at the bottom, then I would suggest you the official plugins hosted by the G3 devs. And installing the extension is a breeze. Just remember to open the website with a firefox(iceweasal) based browser. And one more thing, disable any other composting manager you had installed. It will conflict with the composting which is a part of G3.

Thanx to the Debian GNU/linux devs for packaging the ati propreitory drivers in a workable package. And thanx go to the G3 devs and the community for an excellent DE with the added luxury of extensions which is growing day by day.

steve jobs and Marketing of FLOSS products

Before I comment anything on steve jobs, I salute the marketing genius of a man who would be a perfect example in majority of the examples in philip kotler's book. If he is not he will be in the next edition.

So, what did steve jobs do to make front page of a leading Indian newspaper? He cared a damn about India, why? He never thought India as a lucrative "Market". 1 billion people and counting, is it not a market ..... This, is the only mistake I could recognise made by this marketing genius.

So, what did steve jobs do to make front page of a leading Indian newspaper? Sorry, that is monotonous, let us do it with bullets.

1. Did he have anything to do, technically with the first apple(1976), No. He arranged funding and handled the marketing part of it.
2. Did Apple II have any inputs from jobs, No. Again, only "Marketing"
3. Lisa, Macintosh ..... Marketing
4. NeXT ..... Marketing
5. iMac .... Marketing
6. By this time, Apple recognised that jobs had himself become a commodity. They sold jobs to the bedazzled audience and they lapped him up completely.
7. iPod ..... Marketing. There were a plethora of mp3 players in the market but, the marketing blitz assured that they all were dead within a matter of days.
8. iTunes ..... The greatest innovation which took Apple's revenues to the highest. This was the beginning of the lockdown of the devices in terms of software. This introduced the concept of "ownership" or DRM. You are not supposed to share the music u buy, or for that matter anything u buy from the itunes market. That is again "marketing"

9. iphone .... Revolutionised the mobile phone market. oh, that market word again. He showed that users are ready for premium hardware which dumb users would like to use it blindly and flaunt it too.

10. ipad ... Tapped the same dumb phone market and gave it one more premium symbol to show off.

The one thing common to the latest devices on the market.... is FLOSS. All the devices run FLOSS core. The core runs freebsd on a MACH kernel. Both developed over generations by FLOSS enthusiasts. The bindings are propreitory. The extensions in terms of apps(the itunes app market) are propreitory. Though, the hardware/software combo is ready to run FLOSS apps, I have come across very few people who go beyond what is available in the bundle, except for *nix enthusiasts who "open" the system to be their dream machine. With this they have something to flaunt as well as be working on their favorite *nix aspects. That just shows why apple devices turn up in huge numbers in majority of FLOSS programs/presentations.

In reality he has jailed the users and the FLOSS core in propreitory casing(propreitory UI). Sheer marketing genius. This will be perfect for people who really dont care about the central human principle, sharing. Or they just dont have anything to share.

kudos to the marketing genius for running such a long marathon, always in the lead. For me, steve jobs is "the" tech marketing guru.