Microsoft human bullhorn Steve Ballmer announced that the company intends to make its .NET services scheme Linux friendly, during a dinner hosted by the Churchill Club in Santa Clara, ComputerWorld reports.

"Do we have a way for people who host Web sites on Linux to build on [.NET]? Yes we do," the paper quotes Ballmer as saying.

But apparently the Grand Scheme is to figure some way to bump Linux users to Windows at some future date. "That's not to say our overall strategy is not to get those Web sites over to Windows, but we will provide a way for those Linux servers to use .NET," he said.

Ballmer didn't specify precisely how the company hopes to evangelize Linux.NET users, but indicated that it would stop short of ordering people to do so. "We do not tell people that the only way to embrace .NET is to rip everything out of there" and replace it with Windows, Ballmer said.

Further details are to be released Monday, according to the article.

One reader at Linux Today, which linked the CW story, imagines that MS would rely on a sort of involuntary attrition to move .NET customers away from Linux and towards Salvation. "So I naively install .NET on my Linux servers and over time come to depend on it. Then a few years down the road M$ says "due to lack of customer interest, we're dropping support for Linux. If you want to use .NET you'll need to replace your Linux servers with W2.005K," the reader speculates.

Sounds like a plan to us. ®

Related Links

The ComputerWorld story
The Linux Today excerpt with readers' comments