A top official of Microsoft last week claimed that governments that support open source software are not helping build a viable software ecosystem in their communities. Chris Sharp, director for platform strategy for Microsoft in the Asia-Pacific and Greater China region, said governments that standardize on open source software are hurting their local commercial software vendor communities because these companies are being robbed of opportunities to make money that they need to invest in developing more software products.
Sharp, who used to work for Red Hat before joining Microsoft, said building open source software is a "waste of money." With open source, a company is in effect giving away its intellectual property, he said, adding that this prevents a software company from getting back benefits from its IP. "If you are compelled to give back to the community, then you don't have the opportunity to benefit from that knowledge [you have created]," he stressed.
News source: PCWorld.com
