Ex-Microsofter: Free Software Will Kill Redmond

Keith Curtis, author and former Microsoft programmer, makes no bones about his view that open source puts the software giant's wares to shame. In this interview, he discusses what's wrong with Microsoft programming, what's behind all those bugs, and what's shaping his former employer's grim future.

Comments

Linux and other free software are already doing well in markets other than the desktop. Google has hundreds of thousands of machines running Linux. Free software is well on its way to conquering the small and the large, and the remaining challenge is the desktop in the middle.

The desktop is a particularly hard problem, but Linux is very close and is advancing at a fast pace. The move to the Web has also undermined Microsoft's position, as the most popular application on a computer is a Web browser, and Firefox ably meets those needs.

The second most popular usage is for productivity applications, and while OpenOffice still needs some work, it is good enough for perhaps 99 percent of users. I worked on text engines for five years at Microsoft and wrote my book using OpenOffice.

I don't know when Linux will become 10 percent or 25 percent of the desktop market. Some said Linux would take over 10 years ago, and while that was premature, it is close now. Part of my book is a message to the computer industry discussing the remaining challenges.

Google Docs, and the question of whether all apps will move to the Web, is a raging debate. But Linux can succeed without such a transformation. I think that while the Web is great for simple applications, it is very limited. I think Google Docs is an example of a bridge too far.

You mention the bugs in Windows Vista as evidence of the limitations of proprietary software. How could Microsoft improve Windows?

If Microsoft, 20 years ago, built Windows in an open way, Linux wouldn't exist, and millions of programmers would be improving it rather than competing with it. However, I think it is too late for that now.

For example, if Microsoft were to release the source code to Internet Explorer, no one would care because Firefox and WebKit (the basis of Apple's Safari) already exists. Microsoft is manning a leaky ship, and the only thing they can do is just try to pump water faster. It appears that Windows 7 plugs many of the leaks in Vista, but it is still fundamentally flawed.