Re: [Fsuk-manchester] [Fwd: [GeekUp] Microsoft Vice President visiting Manchester this Month]

[Tim Dobson]

Lucy wrote:
> Ah, I've not really been paying them any attention, so I'm not too
> familiar with all the politics. I see the company as mostly irrelevant
> and would rather concentrate on Canonical, RedHat etc. Obviously,
> Microsoft are still the dominant software company but I don't think
> they'll ever pay more than lip-service to FOSS and so I don't want to
> pay more than lip-service to them.
>
> > interesting times :-)
>
> Indeed..

One of the most interesting current debates surrounds C# and the ASP.net 
with regards to patent claims over mono etc. and what difficulties this 
could cause the free software community.

Whilst I don't have a clear opinion on this issue, this guy is being 
tabled as the guy who knows all you ever wanted to know about ASP.net 
(read took the credit for appointing the guy who wrote it or something) 
so it would be fascinating and possibly quite amusing to throw some 
questions in that direction.

Also do remember that whilst a question is unlikely to influence the 
decision of top dog at any company, it might help influence the 
decisions of IT managers looking at C# vs Python etc. who might be present.

Whilst people may see Microsoft as a dominant non-free software megacorp 
 who is on its way out of dominance, underplaying it's significance and 
market share in more than just the operating system market, would be 
foolish.

The only difference between Apple and Adobe execs and Microsoft execs is 
that Apple and Adobe execs seem less willing to leave their bunkers...

Tim