Seems like he's trying to rationalize the position that he has had for the last 10+ years. One can imagine that those M$ contracts are brutal, I hope the cash was worth it for his sake.
God, what an ignorant statement. This is the kind of reasoning I would expect on Reddit but not Hacker News. Agree or disagree, but please base your argument on the article and not just some ad hominem attack on the person.
Note: This also applies to anyone who uses the term "M$".
When someone fronts their own PRIVATE struggles(by attempting to rationalize the way that they earn a living) as PUBLIC philosophy regarding open-source then counter observations will be made. Nothing unusual really.
Once you graduate from your insulated world in academia and spend some time in industry you will realize just how "ignorant" the previous comment is. Profit determines many decisions. The quicker you learn this the better. Or just stay in Academia forever.
On the off chance that you're serious and not just intentionally trolling...
I think you forget that he is employed by Novell, rather than Microsoft.
This article is consistent with statements I've seen in the past, and past actions. It doesn't look like a philosophy made up after the fact to rationalize actions, it looks like an existing philosophy that drove those actions. Do you have any actual, um, evidence that this is a rationalization rather than an explanation of a long-standing viewpoint?
Note that the quote comes from Steve Jobs, was he also trying to rationalize how he made a living?
I feel about the same way as is expressed in the article despite it having no financial impact on me and not being relevant to any projects I have (ie, there's nothing for me to rationalize about).
