The Sikh Geek

This is an interesting event which is taking place tomorrow in San Francisco and shows part of Microsoft’s strategy on Open Source. One of it’s aims is to get ISVs to develop their applications on Windows rather than Linux. The LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) stack is a very popular choice and Microsoft wants to convert this to WAMP (Windows, …, etc).

Sam Ramji, from the Microsoft Open Source Software Lab is presenting, and they’ve also got the CEO of SugarCRM. I’m guessing he’s going to be talking up building Open Source apps on Windows. His company is another good example of an Open Source company making money. They use a business model which has a zero cost Open Source version with a range of commercially licensed versions based on the Open Source solution with enhanced support services etc. SugarCRM has financing from Venture Capitalists, so you can see that serious people are willing to put money in to these business models.

You see, Microsoft and Open Source doesn’t need to be mutually exclusive and is a part of the positive stuff that is going on.

Not wishing to be left out of the Rich Internet Application’s market with Microsoft launching Silverlight, Sun has announced JavaFX. This is an open source technology, which isn’t surprising, seeing as Java itself is now open source. Sun is betting a lot on it’s open source strategy and has seen good take up of OpenSolaris, it’s x86 based version of Solaris.

Whilst I believe .NET is a great technology to work with with it’s support for multiple languages, Java is still the technology if you want great cross platform support.

There’s a couple of interesting things about Popfly, it’s using OfficeLive’s web page creation code and note the .ms TLD that Microsoft is using on this. The TLD thing has got picked up on Slashdot.

Oops, forgot to mention I picked this up over here.

Another thought provoking post by Tim on being a Small Business Specialist.

Are you slightly apologetic about being a Small Business Specialist? We’ve discussed previously about what the “Blue Badge” means and whilst I agree it doesn’t mean a whole lot to customers (…and why should it?), it’s increasingly apparent it means something to those who are SBSC Partners. It’s hard to define but I think it’s about a sense of belonging, of building human relationships and just connecting with people from across the globe. It’s become something much more than just about a Partner Programme from Microsoft, it’s become about self development for both your business and youself as an individual. When I know someone else is a Small Business Specialist, there is an instant kinship, of shared experiences. It’s the same feeling I get when I meet a fellow Sikh, no matter where I am in the world.

These thoughts are nothing new and have been expressed previously in different ways and inspired me when I first got involved by people like Susanne, Vlad, Susan and Karl.

A short video clip I took at our Ramgharia Community Party last night with people doing Bhangra dancing. The table at the end of the clip is my family!

…that hole is just getting deeper. Bill Hilf is trying to explain himself in this interview with the IDG News Service. According to him it’s not Microsoft strategy to litigate but to resolve the IP Issues. The resolution of these IP Issues is by organisations negotiating IP License agreements with Microsoft which I assume will mean some kind of payment. He says that judges decide patent issues and he’s absolutely right, so how can he confidently say there are IP issues? The answer is he can’t! This is where he’s got himself all in a muddle, because someone, somewhere will turn round and say prove it in a court of law and that’s where the litigation starts. Groklaw is on the case now and this thing is going to be picked through with a fine tooth comb. In reality Linux has never really hurt Microsoft in market share, it’s taken most of it’s gains from Unix. However, Microsoft has a sort of irrational fear of Linux, it feels like it is it’s Nemesis waiting in the shadows. Microsoft is a smart company with some smart people and eventually they will realise they have to just put this patent silliness to one side and just go out and compete on the technology and value to customers. This is where it’s done an amazing job in it’s new technologies pulling it further away from many open source solutions. The last thing our industry needs is customers unsettled by threats of retrospective IP licensing.

On Wed I was at Microsoft UK HQ at TVP for the Windows Live/Silverlight event, which was a rehash of the MSDN stuff I’d seen before so nothing much to say on that. Gareth Brown of Sytec was down there, so it was good to meet up with my fellow “PAL”!

I met up with Aileen and Robbie for lunch just before and was treated to the Microsoft cafe/restaurant/canteen. If I was working down there, I would live in that! They look after their people and quite rightly. It’s a different world down there, with people sitting around on sofas with their laptops open, chatting and having meetings. It’s a good place to be but maybe too comfortable? It was good to meet up with them and talk to “real” people and see, once again, how much they are on the side of SBSC Partners. Obviously, they slipped through the cloning and chip implantation process somehow! Aileen, Robbie and Dave kick ass in Microsoft! Poor old Dave’s server at home is creaking under the strain of the traffic he’s getting on his site. I just love the fact that he’s running this at home! I believe he’s in the top 3 of Microsoft UK bloggers!

I echo something I read on Jono Bacon’s blog about the recent discussions on Microsoft vs Free Software, that there is a disconnect between Microsoft Senior Executives and employees on the ground. That’s nothing unusual, probably true of most major organisations. I feel calmer now and good again about my relationship with Microsoft.

Chris Rue has a challenge for those SBSC Partners and others who just want to hang out with the Small Business guys and gals attending the Worldwide Partner Conference. The SBSC Group on the Connect Site is far and away the biggest one with 26 members with the next one being the Dynamics NAV Group with 13 members. This is a pretty cool tool for matching and connecting partners up.

Chris is one of the guys I’m really looking forward to meeting. I love his Blog, the humour and the mobility stuff he’s doing.

Susanne is on a roll at the moment and she’s got a great post about some ideas for another SBSC Symposium. It’s pretty comprehensive but it would be great to get a wider feedback as to what other people want/feel. Good idea or bad idea? There are some great examples of User Groups focused on Microsoft Technologies running their own day long events down at TVP, supported by Microsoft but content set by the Groups. I’ve always said that we shouldn’t wait for Microsoft to do stuff for us but we should be taking our constructive ideas to them. I believe they actively want us to do that. Even better, why not offer to deliver some content?

I know what people often say, I’m far too busy running my business to do this “engagement” rubbish. I haven’t got time to be doing with all this, my customers need me 24/7. Okay fair enough, but maybe working as a community can make you “less busy” whilst growing your business!

Nice article about a fellow Small Business Specialist, Amy Luby of Mobitech based in the US. Once the site loads, then go to the Contents Link at the top and then go to “38 Peer to Peer - The Power of Networking”.

Got this courtesy of Lynette Spanola Eastlake, Microsoft WW Partner Community Engagement Manager.