Microsoft's Open Compute Move: Just Good PR? - InformationWeek

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Comments
Microsoft's Open Compute Move: Just Good PR?
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Joe Stanganelli
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Joe Stanganelli,
 User Rank: Author
1/30/2014 | 5:00:17 PM
Re: Much to lose?
As the saying goes,"Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer."

Besides, other companies already offer open-source freemium models to attract customers to pay for licensed products.  It only makes sense for Microsoft to do the same.
ChrisMurphy
50%
50%
ChrisMurphy,
 User Rank: Author
1/30/2014 | 10:30:14 AM
Re: Much to lose?
Doesn't that presume that this Open Compute movement will stay in the web giant realm?  I would think the threat to Microsoft comes if it moves into the merely big and the midmarket data centers, at which point Microsoft needs to offer options to embrace a new hardware platform while keeping your Windows-centric app platform.
ChrisMurphy
50%
50%
ChrisMurphy,
 User Rank: Author
1/29/2014 | 2:48:02 PM
Much to lose?
Open Compute from what I understand is primarily a threat to proprietary hardware makers, so there might not be much to lose for Microsoft. Michael notes that Open Compute users today are Linux centric, but maybe that's the reason for Microsoft to cozy help. Will companies combine open source hardware with Windows software? What kind of hurdles would that create?   
Laurianne
50%
50%
Laurianne,
 User Rank: Author
1/29/2014 | 1:18:19 PM
MS cloud talent
Joining OCP also could help MS attract talent from the cloud community. Quite a brain trust in that project group, right?


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