Community Articles: Opinions, Interviews, 分析
11 May 2001
恐れる of the Open Source Community
What is Microsoft afraid of? That is, what 動機づけるs FUD speeches such as 上級の 副大統領 of 戦略 Craig Mundie's now 悪名高い speech May 3 at The New York University 厳しい School of 商売／仕事? In 事例／患者 anyone has not heard, the thrust of Mundie's speech was that Open Source is harmful to 商売／仕事 and the American 未来 because it 除去するs the 保護s and 動機づけs 申し込む／申し出d by copyright. To 引用する Mundie's 用意が出来ている speech (利用できる on the Microsoft 場所／位置):
"We emphatically remain committed to a model that 保護するs the 知識人 所有物／資産／財産 権利s in ソフトウェア and 確実にするs the continued vitality of an 独立した・無所属 ソフトウェア 部門 that 生成するs 歳入 and will 支える 現在進行中の 研究 and 開発."
This is a nothing new; we've heard it before. 保護するing 知識人 所有物／資産／財産 is good because it has enabled our 現在の good world, and Open Source 脅すs all of that. How? By 供給するing a 機械装置--the GPL--by which 知識人 所有物／資産／財産 is left unprotected and by which an unsustainable 商売／仕事 model is seemingly enjoined. We might then 結論する that what Microsoft is most afraid of is 正確に the supposed 弱めるing of 知識人 所有物／資産／財産 提起する／ポーズをとるd by the GPL.
Mundie's rhetoric has been already critiqued, and his errors pointed out, not least by Eric Raymond, Linus Torvalds, Amy Wohl, and others. Of course, in this speech, Microsoft--weirdly, given its 独占主義的な 傾向s and proven 戦略s of 脅迫--comes across as the 支持する／優勝者 of 知識人 所有物／資産／財産 and 革新.
But Microsoft has another 目的s in slamming Open Source (whatever that is) besides 簡単に （種を）蒔くing 恐れる, 疑問, and 不確定 in the 法人組織の／企業の mind. It wants to 促進する its own conception of what it calls "the 株d Source Philosophy," which can be 要約するd as: "促進するing a 株ing of knowledge, through source code and broader interaction, while 尊敬（する）・点ing the importance of 知識人 所有物／資産／財産 権利s." Microsoft is perfectly する権利を与えるd to arrange any system of work it wishes (as long as it is 合法的な). But there is something strange about this conception. 特に, the 概念 of "community" as a necessary 条件 for efficient 共同 more or いっそう少なく 減少（する）s out of the equation.
To be sure, Mundie does について言及する community. He について言及するs it in the phrase "community of ソフトウェア developers" (who will work on the "株d Source") and, more coherently, in his discussion of Open Source, which Mundie 言及するs to as open source ソフトウェア 開発, or OSS (which has a faintly 悪意のある （犯罪の）一味 to it):
"We 認める that OSS has some 利益s, such as the fostering of community, 改善するd feedback and augmented debugging. We are always looking for ways to 改善する our 製品s and make our 顧客s more successful, and to that end we have 会社にする／組み込むd these 肯定的な OSS elements in 株d Source."
Community here is, at best, a "feel good" 追加する-on that does not seem really to be 必須の to the 過程 of producing ソフトウェア. In fact, though, it soon becomes （疑いを）晴らす that community is a bad thing. In the next paragraph, Mundie goes on to 示唆する that all the advantages of Open Source are undone by the very community that makes up any Open Source 事業／計画（する）. For the danger is one of "unhealthy 'forking' of a code base, resulting in the 開発 of 多重の 相いれない 見解／翻訳／版s of programs, 弱めるd interoperability, 製品 不安定, and 妨げるing 商売／仕事s' ability to strategically 計画（する） for the 未来. Microsoft's conception of a community without a leader-a 混乱させるd, anarchic group-will only 減ずる to 大混乱 any 企業.
This conception is laughable. But I think it 最高潮の場面s a 執拗な 失敗 in Microsoft, one that has dogged it since the beginning. Unlike Linux, unlike Apple, Microsoft has real problems forming true communities around its 製品s and its 見通し. Part of the problem is its intrinsic 激しい-handedness. Remember the ineffable charm of Microsoft （頭が）ひょいと動く? But more to the point, the 問題／発行する has to do with its very conception of what a community is and is supposed to do.
From Microsoft's 視野, a community is a more or いっそう少なく passive thing, not unlike a Hollywood audience, eager to buy more, however stupidly. At best, the community might 貿易（する） tips and support and 供給するd feedback to the 製造者s of the ソフトウェア. And at worst, the community will 現実に take it upon itself to 改善する the 製品.
This conception is of course 絶対 contrary to Open Source, which conceives of the community as 活発に engaged in 建設するing the ソフトウェア. From this 視野, then, the 脅し 提起する／ポーズをとるd by Open Source to Microsoft becomes clearer. 簡単に put, Open Source 脅すs to 混乱に陥れる／中断させる the structure of 力／強力にする that has characterized Microsoft's career. This has nothing to do with any 脅し to the いわゆる "American Way." But Microsoft's （選挙などの）運動をする against Open Source does 動かす a 乱すing echo: What is good for Microsoft is good for America.
And I don't buy it. The times are changing.
