A leaked internal Microsoft memo targets open-source software, including the popular Linux operating system and the Apache Web server, as a "direct threat" to Microsoft's software business.
The memo, posted on the Net on Monday, was later confirmed by Microsoft. It suggests strategies that the company might use to counter the open-source movement, including methods for making common Internet protocols dependent upon Microsoft software.
"In recent years, OSS [Open Source Software] projects have acquired the depth and complexity traditionally associated with commercial projects, such as operating systems and mission-critical servers," the memo reads. "Consequently, OSS poses a direct, short-term revenue, and platform threat to Microsoft -- particularly in server space [sic]."
The document offers a glimpse of the degree to which Microsoft fears the distributed and collaborative nature of open- source software development.
"The ability of the OSS process to collect and harness the collective IQ of thousands of individuals across the Internet is simply amazing," the document reads. "More importantly, OSS evangelization scales with the size of the Internet much faster than our own evangelization efforts."
The memo is dated 11 August and signed by Vinod Valloppillil, a product manager for Microsoft's engineering group. Microsoft product manager Ed Muth confirmed the document's authenticity, but says it does not represent Microsoft's position or strategy in regard to open-source software.
Muth says the memo's tone and content are not unusual and that provocative wording is intended to galvanize viewpoints and promote internal discussion at the company.
Eric Raymond, the founding father of the open-source software movement, posted an analysis of the memo on his Web site after receiving a copy of the document late last week.
"I interpret this memorandum as a long continuation of a pattern of destructive and predatory practices that Microsoft has been engaged in for a very long time," says Raymond.
He sees it as proof of what he calls an "embrace and destroy" strategy on the part of Microsoft toward competing software technologies.
A section entitled "Microsoft Response" outlines Microsoft product vulnerabilities and advises how the company can capture open-source benefits and "blunt" its attacks.
Microsoft's Muth vehemently disagrees with Raymond's analysis.
"The note is from an engineer whose job is to write white papers on business models that would be valuable in order to stimulate additional internal dialog within Microsoft," Muth says. "It's not his job to set strategy or build action plans."
Raymond points to a section on "blunting OSS attacks," which detailed a proposed plan by Microsoft to "decommoditize services and protocols."
In Raymond's interpretation, Microsoft is in effect saying it intends to "take open standards that make open computing work and the Internet possible and ... screw them up."
He interprets the overall theme of the memo as "open source is really great, and we must destroy it."
In one section of the document, the memo's author suggests that the company "decommoditize protocols and applications."
The author says OSS projects "have been able to gain a foothold in many server applications because of the wide utility of highly commoditized, simple protocols. By extending these protocols and developing new protocols, we can deny OSS projects entry into the market."
To "beat" Linux in particular, the memo recommends folding the functionality into commodity protocols services and creating new protocols.
