Free Software, Open Source and Microsoft

With a daily 2h commute, I have become an avid listener of podcasts. I mostly listen to those from the Twit network but I also like to listen to Lugradio, the U-turn cafe, BSD talk, etc...

I was just listening to the season 3 episode 23 of Lugradio, and the 4 guys talked about how they were surprised about their experience at Microsoft and how they had a hard time explaining the whole Open Source Idea to them. (Even though they seem to get the difference between Free Software and Open Source)

In my mind, it is very clear why they don't get it. Microsoft has a hard time understand Open Source (and an even harder time understanding Free Software) because they only think in terms of money, price, or value. They view software as a product, like a physical product, that you build and sell. And since they built not just a single product but an entire platform, they have a hard time understanding things outside of that model.

The FLOSS approach (especially Free Software) see software as information. Information wants to be free, thus it easier to simply accept that fact and distribute the source. And once it's out there, it's hard to make it disappear. Information them to see censoring as damage and tends to route around it. And the more popular the information is the faster and further it will travel.
It doesn't mean it cannot be sold: we buy books don't we? Aren't those simply information? What we actually pay for is the service, the easy access to a very portable and reliable form.

So explaining that to Microsoft, is like trying to explain to a book store owner what is library and how it works . He might never get it, and might even try to competition the library thinking it is his primary competition.

Microsoft cannot kill, or buy, or destroy in any way an open source project as long as there is still source available somewhere. Maybe, someday they will understand and start cooperating instead or trying to stop it...