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Hidden away in Building 17 — when he's not on the road, working to counteract the impression among open-source backers that Microsoft is the devil personified — is Bill Hilf.
Hilf works for Microsoft's general manager of platform strategy and Linux point man, Martin Taylor. Hilf is the director of Microsoft's platform technology strategy group. He also happens to run a sizeable Linux lab on the Redmond campus.
Linux running at Microsoft? Isn't that sacrilege? Think of it more as a competitive advantage, said Hilf.
"I am a non-Microsoft guy working at Microsoft," Hilf said.
His bio verifies his characterization. Before joining Microsoft about a year-plus ago, Hilf was instrumental in driving IBM's Linux technical strategy for its emerging and competitive markets organization. Before his stint at IBM, Hilf was the senior director of engineering for eToys, where he helped build the company's e-commerce business infrastructure. All told, Hilf has been involved with the open-source world for over a dozen years, he said.
Hilf says he spends a lot of time "making Linux more transparent to Microsoft managers." He does a lot of educating around the open-source development, testing, deployment and licensing models, he said.
Hilf's job sometimes involves telling the Microsoft product managers "where we suck" vis-a-vis open source. And sometimes it involves showing the Microsoft teams "where the big holes are in open-source environments."
"The bulk of my job is spent with the (Microsoft) product teams on where open-source software is going," he said.
Check Out the Microsoft Channel 9 Video Interview With Hilf and Taylor
But Hilf also interacts extensively with bigwigs in the open-source development world, maintaining close contacts with folks at Samba, Apache, Red Hat, Novell/Ximian and other key open-source developers.
"I try to help keep the peace," Hilf says modestly. "The reception from the open-source community has been amazingly positive."
Hilf said he has yet to have anyone he has contacted refuse a meeting, though he acknowledges he seeks to dialog with open-source developers, not "zealots."
Hilf isn't the only Microsoft employee looking to increase the dialog between Microsoft and the open-source community. At a recent conference sponsored by the Association for Competitive Technology (ACT) in Cambridge, Md., Brad Smith, Microsoft's general counsel, called for bridge building between Microsoft and members of the open-source community.
Other Microsoft employees have been talking more about reconciliation than retaliation, too, as of late. The change in rhetoric has not gone unnoticed — or uncommented upon — by open-source backers.
Next Page: What's Running In Microsoft's Linux Lab?
In addition to acting Microsoft's good cop on open source, Hilf also runs the Microsoft Linux lab, which consists of a few hundred servers and a variety of PCs running about 30 to 40 different Linux distributions, as well as almost all the different flavors of Unix, according to Hilf.
It is in this lab that Microsoft does a lot of its internal benchmarking, comparing Windows Server to Linux; ASP.Net to PHP; and Microsoft Office to OpenOffice. But a lot of the lab's testing involves interoperability, too, Hilf said.
"The lab itself is an interoperability experiment," Hilf says, since the various systems in it need to interoperate with the Windows-based networking, human-resources, e-mail and other systems that run Microsoft.
"We get to find out lots of interesting things — like how to authenticate against Active Directory, how to run non-Microsoft mail clients with Exchange," and the like, he said.
Hilf's team isn't big. He employs a couple of full-time program managers, plus between four to eight contractors working for him at any given time, Hilf said. These contractors tend to be open-source specialists whom he calls in on a rotating basis.
What's been Hilf's biggest surprise since coming over from the open-source world to the "dark side"?
"I thought I'd have gotten a lot of 'it's crap if it's not built here,' attitude," he said. Instead, he said he has found more curiosity than resistance to open-source software among the Microsoft employees with whom he has worked.
Still, Hilf acknowledged he has a long way to go to bridge the Microsoft-open-source gap.
Hilf said he still hears the same-old, predictable questions and perceptions regarding Microsoft's open-source strategy and intentions. His top five:
When will Microsoft open source X (Microsoft commercial product)?
Why don't you build X (Microsoft commercial product) so it runs on Linux?
Microsoft is all-about closed source.
Microsoft is anti-open source.
Microsoft is always less secure than every open-source product on every front.
So while Microsoft may have made progress from the days of top brass routinely characterizing Linux as "cancer," there's still plenty left to do, Hilf conceded.
(This is an updated version of an article which appeared in the April 21, 2005, issue of the Microsoft Watch newsletter. Want to see what other Microsoft news nuggets you might have missed? Sign up today for a free two-week trial subscription to Microsoft Watch.)
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Comments (11)
This is really good entertainment, watching Microsoft trying disparately to catch up, spy and steal from others. This is the beginning of the end for Microsoft.
Posted by It Expert | May 7, 2005 12:39 AM
I guess I know now where Microsoft gets most of their information in their campaign against Open Source here in the Philippines. Funny thing is, they are trying to educate the marketing and sales people here in the Philippines. Also, they backed out on several of their seminars entitled "How to Position yourself against Open Source". I guess they need more information and a stronger position before they launch that seminar. On the business side, they target resellers and not businesses using MS Windows as their OS. They're getting desparate here, offering cars and whatnots as incentives to selling their products. At least they're admitting that Linux is a viable alternative solution to Microsoft Windows since Red Hat and companies like the one I'm in are trying our best to establish Linux as a viable alternative OS for enterprise use.
Posted by Buddy Tan | May 8, 2005 2:06 AM
End of Microsoft? And you call yourself a Professional...may be not...
Posted by KMGuru | January 15, 2006 2:04 PM
End of Microsoft? And you call yourself a Professional...may be not...
Posted by KMGuru | January 15, 2006 2:04 PM
I believe Microsoft is here to stay! here in the Philipines and anywhere else in the world. I was initiated how to use computer through microsoft programs and very grateful to it. Here in the Philippines, I work with the second biggest agency, and when you talk of computer, Microsoft is the first thing to come in mind, and the one we are using in the department right now.
I am personally grateful to Microsoft. And what a great pleasant surprise! When I tried to search for a long lost friend for more than 30 years, and the first information that came up of a person in the same name is the Microsoft's Cambridge Lab Deputy Director - in the name of Mr. Ken Wood...
I almost felt faint, My God! is this the same person I have been thinking of for so many years? I REALLY HOPE HE IS THE ONE!
Please this may not be the right place to ask about him but for more than 30 years I've been agonizing to hear from a long time and special friend named Ken Wood. Please, I beg for mercy, and hope and pray that the distinguished Deputy Director of Microsoft's Cambridge Lab may hear about my message.
The Mr. Ken Wood I knew once lived in Barrow-In-Furness, Cumbria. We wrote to each other since high-1973-74 (he was around 17, me 16, that time) but we lost communication around 1980-81.
His birthday is January 19. If he is the one, he knew me very well back then, and he has pictures of myself. He had sent me photos of himself too, and copies of his drawings including that of a perfect tree that earned him a nickname "leaf". He has a sister named Rozlin Melish and a niece named Angela. He also sent me pictures of the Lake District (Lake Windermere, etc.)
Please, I really hope that its possible that Mr. Ken Wood will come accross this letter.
My mind would never be peace until I will hear from the Ken Wood that I knew. The Deputy Director may not be the same person, but I really pray that this message will reach him.
I pray to God that Mr. Ken Wood will come across this letter...
I am Carmelita, and my e-mail address is: bebiec@kw.com.
I live in Davao City,Philippines for more than 30 years now.
Thank you very much, and more power!
Posted by Carmelita (bebie) C. | April 25, 2007 2:24 AM
I believe Microsoft is here to stay! Here in the Philipines and anywhere else in the world. I was initiated how to use computer through Microsoft programs and very grateful to it. Here in the Philippines, I work with the second biggest agency, and when you talk of computer, Microsoft is the first thing to come in mind, and the one we are using in the department right now.
I am personally grateful to Microsoft. And what a great pleasant surprise! When I tried to search for a long lost friend for more than 30 years, and the first information that came up of a person in the same name is the Microsoft's Cambridge Lab Deputy Director - in the name of Mr. Ken Wood...
I almost felt faint, My God! is this the same person I have been thinking of for so many years? I REALLY HOPE HE IS THE ONE!
Please this may not be the right place to ask about him but for more than 30 years I've been agonizing to hear from a long time and special friend named Ken Wood. Please, I beg for mercy, and hope and pray that the distinguished Deputy Director of Microsoft's Cambridge Lab may hear about my message.
The Mr. Ken Wood I knew once lived in Barrow-In-Furness, Cumbria. We wrote to each other since high-1973-74 (he was around 17, me 16, that time) but we lost communication around 1980-81.
His birthday is January 19. If he is the one, he knew me very well back then, and he has pictures of myself. He had sent me photos of himself too, and copies of his drawings including that of a perfect tree that earned him a nickname "leaf". He has a sister named Rozlin Melish and a niece named Angela. He also sent me pictures of the Lake District (Lake Windermere, etc.)
Please, I really hope that its possible that Mr. Ken Wood will come accross this letter.
My mind would never be at peace until I will hear from the Ken Wood that I knew. The Deputy Director may not be the same person, but I really pray that this message will reach him.
I pray to God that Mr. Ken Wood will come across this letter...
I am Carmelita, and my e-mail address is: bebiec@kw.com.
I live in Davao City,Philippines for more than 30 years now.
Thank you very much, and more power!
Posted by Carmelita (bebie) C. | April 25, 2007 2:28 AM
Earlier I have posted comment dated April 25, 2007 at 2:24 AM and 2:28 AM.
This is an addendum/correction of my Email Address, the correct one is: bbleaf1973@yahoo.com
My sincere apologies.
Thank you very much.
More power to Microsoft Cambridge Lab.
Carmelita (bebie) C., Philippines
Posted by Carmelita (bebie) C. | April 25, 2007 5:33 AM
Earlier I have posted comment dated April 25, 2007 at 2:24 AM and 2:28 AM.
This is an addendum/correction of my Email Address, the correct one is: bbleaf1973@yahoo.com
My sincere apologies.
Thank you very much.
More power to Microsoft Cambridge Lab.
Carmelita (bebie) C., Philippines
Posted by Carmelita (bebie) C. | April 25, 2007 5:34 AM
I agree with IT Expert. It is really funny watching Microsoft hopelessly try to catch up. And while this article supports the bridge between Microsoft and open source, I believe it is not very viable.
Posted by Brody | December 13, 2007 7:16 PM
I think Software is all about service ; Meeting the customers needs.
If microsoft is doing that then they are here to stay irrespective of what people think.
More elbow grease Microsoft.
Posted by Enow Mbi | December 5, 2008 4:46 AM
I think Software is all about service ; Meeting the customers needs.
If microsoft is doing that then they are here to stay irrespective of what people think.
More elbow grease Microsoft.
The Linux strategy looks stupid but remember Gandhi "First they Ignore you,then they laugh at you , then they fight you , then you win.";
They may be catching up at the moment but watch out and i've said it before ; the most secure OS will be a microsoft box. I've used both Linux and Microsoft , i know what i'm talking about.
Posted by Enow Mbi | December 5, 2008 4:48 AM