Alleged Microsoft memo deals with Linux threat

A fascinating (and alleged) internal Microsoft memo has been making therounds this weekend on the Internet, showing a company that has privatelytaken the Linux threat to heart while it publicly asserts that it has nothing to fear. The memo, which is now known simply as the "Halloween Document," explains the Open Source software phenomenon, including such competitors as Linux, Apache, and Netscape Mozilla, while offering up somestrategies that Microsoft can implement to avert disaster.

In the memo, the unnamed author alleges that Linux is a serious short-termthreat to Microsoft's NT Server strategy, but poses no threat on thedesktop. The document (correctly) states that much Open Source software iscommercial quality (sans the cost) and that this prevents Microsoft from using its standard FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt) tactics against it.Furthermore, since Open Source software isn't associated with a singlecompany, Microsoft will have to target "a process, rather than a company."

The most interesting conclusions in the memo regard Linux, which the authorbelieves "can win" as long as Internet services and protocols are a "commodity." Linux will soon "own" the x86 UNIX market, the author says. Tobeat Linux, Microsoft must use the same tactics it used to beat UNIX in thepast. And perhaps most disturbingly, it must create proprietary extensionsto protocols such as TCP/IP, HTTP, IMAP and the like so that its customerswill be forced to seek Microsoft-only solutions. The memo says that newprotocols will be accepted only if they "raise the bar & change the rules of the game."

Scary, isn't it? The memo, if real, offers a fascinating look into the decision-making process at Microsoft. If it isn't real, it's still worthreading, however, because it offers up an intelligent comparison betweenthe directions Open Source and Windows are taking.

Open Source expert Eric Raymond has posted the Halloween Document along with his own notes on the Web

For those of you unfamiliar with Raymond, he is the author of the famous"Cathedral and the Bazaar" paper that convinced Netscape to go the OpenSource route with Communicator. Check out Raymond's home page for details