Just because people disagree with you doesn't mean they're being paid off by people you don't like.
That's an egregious and unreasonable assumption of bad faith.
That's an egregious and unreasonable assumption of bad faith.
Though in the case of companies that have a track record of just that[0], it's not outlandish to jump to that conclusion.
[0] The reader is free to look up "Microsoft munchkins" as an exercise.
OS/2 could be open source. There was a push for this a little over 10 years ago. IBM actually took notice and issued a statement. They were willing to make OS/2 open source, to the extent that their interests in the IP allowed them to, but that alone wouldn't be sufficient. So the reason that it's not open source, right now, today, is because of Microsoft.
If MS really is this new and changed philanthropic messiah of free and open source software, then let's see it. Open source OS/2. I'm not saying "open source Win10". I'm not even saying "open source XP". We're talking about friggin' OS/2—a product that barely fared higher than DOA status at its height on the market.
I was interviewed on this topic specifically and quoted in an article. It made me somewhat nervous, because the author wanted to source the quote with my full name, title, and employer - understandable, but my feelings on the issue were somewhat nuanced. As a result I had to place more than a little trust in the journalist writing the piece. We spoke for quite a while and I'm 100% certain that she could have quoted me out of context to make it sound like I held whatever viewpoint she thought sounded most controversial. She represented my statements accurately and clearly, and I'm glad I worked with her.
Here's the article: https://www.ciodive.com/news/deal-of-the-year-microsofts-git...
I referenced MS's history of "embrace, extend, extinguish" several times and basically said that while it appears that they've turned a new leaf and are not the same leviathan they once were, their reputation for hostility toward F/OSS was not built overnight and they will not lose it overnight.
I'm more than happy to give credit where credit is due - Microsoft is doing great things right now for F/OSS. They've built much of the Azure platform around it, and continue to promote the use of F/OSS alongside or even in preference to their own offerings. If this continues, they could be the next Red Hat... but if it doesn't, and a few years from now we look back and find that they were still the "devil we knew", then they have the potential to cause a lot of damage. I don't think it's at all unfair to be cognizant of that fact and to be hesitant to trust them fully.