No user of free and open source software (FOSS) can escape having an opinion about Microsoft. Microsoft products and technologies represent what FOSS users have left behind. Some consider it increasingly irrelevant, and others a shadowy figure comparable to Satan in the Middle Ages or the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Here's a Microsoft quote on Mozilla:

"Apr 30, 2009. It's not the first time Microsoft has tried to wrestle away market share from free software using shady tactics. Suddenly, Microsoft seems to have discovered that education is strategic for their enterprise and they are pouring resources into cornering the market... at least in areas where GNU/Linux has the lead..."

If you've ever used Microsoft Access or Excel, you have likely used a product that Mike Gunderloy had a hand in developing. The irony is that Gunderloy himself doesn't use those products anymore. He's given up Microsoft for open source -- and he's not going back.

"For some reason, Linux and education seem to go hand-in-hand. Some of the benefits of Linux make the association between the two very natural.[...]There is, however, the ever-present argument that the real world uses Microsoft products, therefore Microsoft products are what children should be taught in school."

The FOSS (Free/Open Source Software) Community knows, thanks to leaked Microsoft internal documents, that since about 1998 Microsoft has been in a sort of war against them. Because of this, it is not surprising that the FOSS community has looked at Microsoft with suspicion and has vilified it to no end. But, is Microsoft really evil?

Bob Young saw in the 1990s that the two dominant models in existence were profoundly flawed. On one hand, there was the classical proprietary-software model employed by big players such Microsoft and Oracle. They sold their clients only the operating software, not the source code. All enhancements and modifications were in the hands of the software maker. On the other hand was the free software model.

Last April (April-29-2010) there was a local event in Ecuador organized by AESoft, the Ecuadorian Software association. This event was names “Integrated Technologies” and was sponsored by Microsoft, CodePlex, Port25 and The Apache Foundation. On this conference Microsoft sent a message saying that they are Open Source friendly and they support Open Source development.

According to recent IDC reports Microsoft does not own the enterprise market; favoring UNIX and Linux Operating platforms (read below). Although one needs to be reminded that it is not Microsoft’s primary market. It is the end-user that Microsoft is concerned with and it has been that same market that has helped Microsoft get to the position it is currently in. But does that really matter?