Sunday, September 19, 2004

Scoble says "Learn Linux"

Robert Scoble, a "MS Geek Blogger", (and a popular one, at that), said that he told MS Student Ambassadors to "... learn Linux. Learn the Macintosh. ... To become authorities that people would listen to."

While that reasoning makes certain sense, he also said in a later post "Bill Gates has been saying a lot lately that the next 10 years in the software industry are going to be far more exciting than the past 10. I totally believe that and after hanging out with the best the software industry has to offer the past week at two different events, you all better hold onto your mice."

My spin on this? While I don't say that Scoble is MS's mouthpiece (and in fact says things that his employer should certainly be annoyed with), he is a MS fan and supporter, and from what I've read of his, wants his company to succeed.

My feeling reading this is that there's a serious tide turning within MS, and that the Open Source world is really starting to shake things up inside Redmond. (Obviously I'm not the first or only one to say this.) But while folks noticed MS's latest quarterly report as being much more vocal about O/S's impact on them, that's where they're legally (?), or morally (?) required to be pessimists. Scoble's post struck me differently.

Intelligent, connected, trusted people (like Scoble) are equating understanding O/S with a requirement for credibility in the tech world.

Yes, indeed, it's going to be a fascinating next 10 years.

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