LAST YEAR we mentioned Microsoft's "Jihad" talk (the term it uses a lot internally, even Bill Gates). The Microsoft ecosystem is said to be working very closely together and some call it "the Microsoft movement" (a term which is usually used in private conversations). Others even call it a/the "Microsoft religion", so the following new post hit a certain nerve.

We’ve accepted the obvious benefits of open source principles in business and education, law and healthcare. In the Life channel, we get to examine some of the less-obvious avenues where open source is found--and here is one that even surprises us a little: open source religion.

There is only one true religion, though it's impossible to know whether it's Linuxism, BSDism or SysVism. Some extremely deluded folks once thought it was McBridism but that's generally considered to have been falsified. So you have a one in three shot at salvation.

After browsing through the amazing feedback in response to the many Linux articles on ITWire, I have come to a very clear conclusion – Linux is a religion. Here’s a bunch of reasons why its so.

For many years this so-called ‘research’ group has been carrying out anti-Linux studies (read: manufactured publications for clients) that had been commission by Microsoft. Even recently, The Yankee Group’s founder called open source “a religion” and mocked it for some kicks.

This is not an April Fools’ Day joke. --Microsoft just officially announced that they will discontinue all Encarta products by the end of the year. They will shutdown all of their Encarta websites worldwide and will stop selling their software products, namely Microsoft Student and Encarta Premium encyclopedias.

Another day, another company developing Linux-based tech falls into line with Microsoft's intellectual property wonks. Japanese Flash maker I-O Data Device Inc has agreed to cough up an undisclosed sum of cash to Microsoft under a Linux software deal. This is the latest such agreement Microsoft has made with a tech company that uses Linux in its products.

It [the book "The God Delusion"] got me thinking about how the term religion is often applied to open source software, and how religion can become a default position for determining software choices (and not just for open source, there are more than enough desktop administrators out there who believe that Windows is the one true OS and Macs are the work of the devil).

Microsoft again claims to be "owning" Linux and Melco says "yes". Microsoft's patent racket has just hit another company, which sold out to Microsoft without a fight, just like Novell. It pays Microsoft for Linux products.