Halloween documents

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The Halloween Documents ("Halloween Documents") are the common name outside of Microsoft for a series of confidential letters about potential strategies against the development of open source software and in particular of GNU / Linux . The first Halloween document, commissioned by Microsoft's Vice President James Allchin for his fellow board member Paul Maritz, was written by Microsoft developer Vinod Valloppillil. The memorandum was made public through Eric S. Raymond on November 1, 1998 (one day after Halloween ) when he published an annotated version of the paper on his website. The paper contained references to a second document which dealt specifically with the GNU / Linux operating system. This second document, also written by Vinod Valloppillil (with the assistance of Josh Cohen), also came into the hands of Raymond, who immediately published it. Microsoft has now confirmed the authenticity of the documents.

The documents marked as confidential documents ("Microsoft confidential") identify open source software (OSS) and in particular GNU / Linux as a major threat to Microsoft's dominance in the software industry. The document contains reflections on how to stop the open source movement .

The documents certify that the products from the areas of open source and free software are technologically equal to some Microsoft products and deal with the question of how their proliferation can be combated. Microsoft found the release of the documents embarrassing as they contrasted with the company's public statements on the matter.

Since the publication of the first two documents, further memoranda from Microsoft on similar topics have emerged and been published. Taken together, these documents testify that Microsoft is keeping a keen eye on the open source community and views the development of free software as a threat to its survival in the software industry.

Quotes from the Halloween documents:

  • "Case studies from the Internet recently showed in a very dramatic way [...] that the quality of commercial products can be achieved and (in some cases) even surpassed by open source products."
  • "Open source software is an ongoing trend [...] FUD ('dirty campaigns') - tactics cannot be used against it."
  • "As long as services / protocols are viewed as exchangeable goods, Linux can win."
  • " Microsoft should design its protocols and applications in such a way that they are viewed as 'not interchangeable'."

The latter strategy is often as a strategy of "accepting, widening and extinguishing": (English " embrace, extend and extinguish " hereinafter).

The documents

It should be noted that only some of the documents known as "Halloween Documents" that actually came to the public are internal Microsoft papers (in particular documents No. I, II, VII, VIII and X). Another (Document III) is a public statement, the other letters are responses from Eric S. Raymond to numerous columns, newspaper articles, and other papers.

  1. "Open Source Software: A (New?) Development Methodology" , called "The Halloween Document" by Eric S. Raymond. A memo written by Microsoft's Vinod Valloppillil. Describes the benefits of open source software and suggests ways to combat them.
  2. "Linux OS Competitive Analysis: The Next Java VM?" , Also known as "Halloween Document II" (also by Vinod Valloppillil). Describes the architecture of the GNU / Linux system, its connections to Unix and Windows NT, and the software's growing popularity.
  3. Public statement by Aurelia van den Berg, spokeswoman for Microsoft Netherlands, called "Halloween Document III". A brief comment on the two documents mentioned above. This statement was later adopted by Microsoft as an official response under the "official response".
  4. "Halloween Document IV: When Software Things Were Rotten" . A parody by Raymond of the first two Halloween documents, along with a quote from Microsoft's Ed Muth comparing open source developer to Robin Hood .
  5. "Halloween Document V: The FUD Begins" . Raymond's response to Ed Muth's allegations that Linux is "of little use".
  6. "Halloween Document VI: The Fatal Anniversary" . A response from Raymond on research by the Gartner Group on behalf of Microsoft.
  7. Research E-Bulletin: Attitudes Towards Shared Source and Open Source Research Study , also known as Halloween VII: Survey Says . Summary of a survey among developers and IT managers on Microsoft's shared source program. Low costs (“total cost of ownership”) are cited as the main reason for switching to GNU / Linux.
  8. "OSS and Government" , known as "Halloween VIII: Doing the Damage-Control Dance" . A demonstration by Group Vice President of Worldwide Sales, Orlando Ayala, to Microsoft regional managers. Describes the support from the headquarters for the regional managers when they are faced with a competition with GNU / Linux in tenders (especially with governments).
  9. "Halloween IX: It Ain't Necessarily SCO" . Response from Rob Landley and Raymond to the allegations of the SCO Group in a lawsuit against IBM (see “ SCO versus Linux ”). The title of the article is a parody of the song “It Ain't Necessarily So”, from George Gershwin's opera “ Porgy and Bess ”.
  10. An email from management consultant Mike Anderer to SCOs Chris Sontag, made famous under the title "Halloween X: Follow The Money" . Describes among other things the payment of 86 million US dollars from Microsoft to SCO.
  11. "Halloween XI: Get The FUD" . Raymond's response to Microsoft's "Get The Facts" marketing campaign against GNU / Linux.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ microsoft.com/NTServer/nts/news ( Memento from August 16, 2000 in the Internet Archive )