微软高管表态:我们喜欢开源

Microsoft loves open source for the same reason IBM loves it, for what it can do for Microsoft.

微软喜爱开源有着与IBM相同的原因——因为开源可以为它所用。

Microsoft has used its patents, just as IBM did, to bully its way into the space, it has created open source licenses the suit its needs, and it can use open source as a glue to hold customers to its products with their cash flow. It can now afford to be magnanimous.

如IBM那样，微软使用其专利权挤入了那一空间；它创建出了适合自己所需的开源许可；并可以运用自己的资金流，把开源作为一个牢牢将客户缚在其产品上的粘合剂。现在它有资本宽宏大量了。

What’s not to love?

什么是它不可能去喜欢的？

Once more we have to explain to our fellow typists the difference between open source and FOSS. Open source is a practical means for doing business. FOSS is an ideal.

我们再一次不得不向大家解释一下开源与FOSS的区别。开源是经商的一个切实方法，FOSS是一个理念。

Open source does not mean you wear a hair shirt and abjure filthy lucre — just the opposite. (As if FOSS ever did. There are far more long-haired rednecks out there with Bush-Cheney 2004 stickers on their trucks than hippies. This is 2010.)

开源并非意味着你穿着刚毛衬衣，发毒誓不取不义之财——而正好相反。

Of course just because Microsoft loves open source that doesn’t mean it does what the open source movement wants it to do as opposed to what Microsoft wants to do. Microsoft loves open source because it has found a way to twist it in the direction of its own self-interest.

当然微软喜爱开源关不意味着它将背着其本意做开源想要做的事。微软喜爱开源因为它找到了一条通向自己利益的途径，通过开源。

It is also in Microsoft’s self-interest to appear benign toward open source right now. Oracle has gleefully taken up the mantle of open source villain, and Microsoft’s new public stance may help it take some business away from its rival.

目前对开源的和蔼姿态于微软也是有好处的。Oracle欢欣地担起了开源大敌的角色，微软的新公众立场也许有助于它赢取多一点的销售业绩。

In the age of cloud computing, a completely proprietary stance makes no logical sense anyway. Where the software comes from does not matter to the cloud user. All they care is that it rains applications. Profitable ones.

在云计算时代，一个完全专有的立场怎么也说不过去了。软件来自哪，与云用户无关。他们所关心的只是要它能“降”下应用来。要是赚钱的应用。

Now there may come a time when it will be in Microsoft’s best interest to hate open source. And the fact that it loves open source doesn’t mean it won’t compete fiercely against open source, and try to take business away from open source companies.

微软本着最大利益，讨厌（压制）开源的时候大概到了。它喜爱开源的事实这里也并不意味着它不会给开源以猛烈的打击，或从开源企业抢夺市场。

It’s not love as in “I will always be true to you.” It’s not a marriage. It’s a relationship, a guy thing. More like, “I love you, man,” and punching open source in the shoulder after a few extra beers on a Friday night.

这不是“我会一直对你真诚”中的爱。这不是婚姻。这只是关系，利益的那种。更有可能的是，“我爱你，”然后在一个星期五晚上几瓶酒过后，在开源肩旁给其突然的一击。

We are talking about the love Pete Townsend sang about in “Behind Blue Eyes.” “If I shiver please give me a blanket, keep me warm, let me wear your coat.” That’s a groovy kind of love, too. But I won’t get fooled again by it.

我们现在是在谈论Pete Townsend在歌曲《Behind Blue Eyes》中唱及的爱：“如果我在颤抖，请给我一件毛毯给我暖和，让我穿上你的衣服。”这也确实是美好的友谊。可是我不会再被它迷惑了。

Don’t you be, either.

你也不要了。