
Linus and RMS lead the popular vote for Next Microsoft CEO - santu11
http://nextmicrosoftceo.com/#candidates
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nekopa
I have always wondered what would happen if Bill Gates would turn around one
day and say 'fuck it, I'm going to open source the whole kit and kaboodle.'

What would it be like? Would people brave trying to fix all the problems in
the windows kernel? I wonder what XP source code looks like. How many people
would try to fork MS Office? Bt most interesting would be what would happen to
the business landscape if all MS products were free. Would Apple die or become
larger? Would malware go through the roof, or be extinguished? What would
large corporate license holders do with the savings? (would there even be that
many savings in comparison to TCO?)

~~~
oelmekki
> Bt most interesting would be what would happen to the business landscape if
> all MS products were free.

I'm under the impression it's already part of their strategy, and it's
probably a cause why most people still use windows. They know they can easily
download softwares on torrent websites, and MS is pretty much tolerant about
it (as far as it's about individuals, not businesses).

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johnchristopher
You are mistaking Adobe for MS. MS is going down hard on pirates reselling
their stuff to individuals or making it available online.

Also you seem to imply MS let every software be torrented intentionnaly. But
MS doesn't publish every software in the world and they aren't responsible,
nor should they fight, for other software makers's piracy problems.

It's certainly not part of their strategy. More like a pirate post-fact
rationalisation line of thinking.

~~~
nivla
> You are mistaking Adobe for MS. It's certainly not part of their strategy.

Nope, they are following the same brilliant strategy as Adobe.

"Although about 3 million computers get sold every year in China, people don't
pay for the software. Someday they will, though," Gates told an audience at
the University of Washington. "And as long as they're going to steal it, we
want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow
figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade." [1]

[1] [http://articles.latimes.com/2006/apr/09/business/fi-
micropir...](http://articles.latimes.com/2006/apr/09/business/fi-micropiracy9)

~~~
johnchristopher
Damn, you are right. I remember reading that quote years ago. To be fair he
specifically deals with Chinese and asian markets though. Not sure this
applies to the US and european markets.

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lutusp
I fell down laughing. Linus Torvalds and Richard Stallman top the list? So
much for popular votes.

~~~
deviateX
They are a kind of joke candidates, they are not in the profit-making-business
however.

Gabe (number 3) on the other-hand seems to be exactly the right kind of
leader, he knows Microsoft and has successfully built a business from scratch
-- even competing against MSFT. Clearly he is a little too outspoken, who
could make Ballmer look like a quiet personality.

Microsoft should probably just aquire Steam, and trial Gabe as CEO.

~~~
notconagra
Gabe's stated several times he's not remotely interested in selling to
Microsoft.

~~~
deviateX
Value is Microsoft's best option, MSFT can set the right price.

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cvrajeesh
Clear the asp.net session cookies (ASP.NET_SessionId) and vote as many times
you wish !!!

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chatman
RMS can really save Microsoft, encouraging freedom for MS users. That will be
the best thing MS could ever have done.

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vukmir
The Internet Strikes Again

At first, I laughed, but the more I think about it that may not be as crazy
and hilarious as it looks like at the first sight. No matter what you think
about Linus and RMS, they both have leadership qualities.

~~~
skc
You think they have what it takes to run a "multi-billion dollar profit a
quarter" company as diverse as Microsoft?

Right.

~~~
vukmir
Right.

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please_advise
That's pure nonsense.

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tphan
Whoever runs the site blows away troll votes every once in a while so
hopefully Scott Hanselman comes back on top.

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TazeTSchnitzel
In all seriousness, Linus _might_ be OK. But RMS is too purist and never
practical.

~~~
troels
Yet more charismatic than their current ceo ...

~~~
chatman
No way, Steve Ballmer is the epitome of charisma. :-P

Have you not seen the best of Ballmer?
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8M6S8EKbnU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8M6S8EKbnU)

~~~
Argorak
For lack of a translation: "Rampensau" is the german word for that behaviour
and does neither imply nor deny charisma.

He is just energetic on stage.

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nealabq
They should seriously consider someone like pg. Someone with ideas.

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dizzystar
Voted for RMS only because VS is the worlds worst editor.

~~~
enry_straker
Presume you are referring to Visual Studio. It has a vi emulation plugin if
that's what you are into.

Given that one of RMS's baby is Emacs, i find it strange you choose to vote
for the fire while hating the frying pan.

~~~
tbirdz
Given the fact that he was going to vote for RMS due to Visual Studio's poor
editing qualities, one would assume that this user prefers editing with emacs,
no?

