Microsoft Misses the Point with ‘Free’ Software

BizSpark is a new initiative by Microsoft to give away it’s products to young start-ups making less than 1million USD a year…

Clearly, this is also a program that is meant to create more goodwill towards Microsoft in the developer community. For a lot of tech startups, running Windows is often not even a consideration, as they are already building their software on top of free software anyway. As Om Malik points out, the idea of using Microsoft software often didn’t even cross his mind when he started his business.

It is good to see that Microsoft is trying to gain some market here. However, it seems that Microsoft is trying to fight the free software movement by giving away its own programs, while a lot of developers prefer software that is not just free, but also open source.

The appeal of open source isn’t only that it’s often ‘free’, it’s the fact that it is customizable, free from legal lock-down, and community supported. Meanwhile, Microsoft products will almost certainly come with a litigious licensing deal and steep customer support costs. BizSpark already mentions that the software is free ‘while businesses are in the program’ but as soon as you try to leave, or no longer qualify by making too much revenue, you’ve got a pre-arranged commitment to begin paying. While BizSpark is a commendable effort but it’s got a long way to go before attracting heavy FOSS users.