Instead of ignoring open source conferences, Microsoft continues to invade them. The latest example: John Frederiksen (pictured), general manager of Microsoft’s Response Point business, is scheduled to speak at Digium AsteriskWorld on February 3. Why is Microsoft paying such close attention to an event for open source IP PBX advocates? The answer is obvious.
Microsoft Response Point is a small business phone system. Frederiksen leads worldwide product development, marketing and business development for Response Point — which appears to be on a collision course with Asterisk.
Some pundits say Asterisk now represents about 18 percent of the North American PBX market. That sounds like a wild exaggeration to The VAR Guy. Still, there’s no doubting Asterisk’s growing momentum. In addition to Digium‘s own Asterisk efforts, upstarts like Fonality have built small business phone systems atop the Asterisk code base. And in recent months, Dell and Tech Data both have partnered with Fonality.
Branding 101
Meanwhile, Response Point is yet another new, largely unfamiliar brand that Microsoft must aggressively pitch to channel partners and small business customers.
In addition to evangelizing Response Point to Microsoft’s loyal Small Business Server crowd, the software giant is preaching the power of Response Point to the next generation of VoIP solutions providers: The folks attending Digium AsteriskWorld.
Of course, Microsoft could also be planning a few surprises for the Asterisk crowd. Don’t forget, the software giant shocked observers by partnering closely with Novell SUSE Linux. Could a similar Microsoft-Digium relationship be waiting in the wings? The VAR Guy doubts it… but…
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An earlier interview revealed that some key Digium people seem to be placing a high value in having their software work well on MSware. That is a dead-end path. There are very good reasons why Microsoft wants FOSS to be ported over to MS platforms. Microsoft overwhelms individual entities and makes them feel they will lose if they don’t deal with Microsoft. They have been trying to punish Red Hat for some time. In a small room with dazzling lights and power point presentations and strategic demos (even if not genuine), the gorilla can seem intimidating to small companies with dollars on the line. Buck that path if you can. Monopolysoft cannot coexist with very many (and there are many in line ahead of you.. lie ex-execs run private affairs). They ultimately find the key points to your business success (eg, key talent or customers or processes) and then apply all their levers and deception to hollow you out.
boycottnovell has lots of content on Microsoft deception such as why they need FOSS to support their platforms in order to survive.
Will asterisk be forked within the next five years?