Linux a 'waste of money', says top MS exec

Microsoft has come out fighting in Asia, telling governments in the region that adopting open-source software will damage their own economies and is a "waste of money". Chris Sharp, director for platform strategy for Microsoft in Asia-Pacific, said governments that standardise on open-source software are hurting their local software vendors as they can't make the money needed to invest in their own software products. Sharp, who used to work for Red Hat before joining Microsoft, said building open-source software is a "waste of money" and that a company was in effect giving away its intellectual property, preventing it from getting future benefits. "If you are compelled to give back to the community, then you don't have the opportunity to benefit from that knowledge," he stressed.

Sharp added that there are several myths surrounding open source. People tend to believe it is free, he said, but even companies that support open source are just as motivated by commercial interests as any other commercial software vendor. Apparently undermining his initial assertion about open-source ruining local software efforts, he pointed out that open source giants such as Red Hat and IBM are still after a return on their investments. "They are not for the greater good of the community; they are also after the money," he said.

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