Matt Asay: “We have deep integration into Office, through web services, even though we’re a GPL product. If someone is wedded to Microsoft we’re probably not for them.
So Microsoft opens, and open source closes. Is that how it goes in your business, too?

I must concede: Sometimes I worry Canonical is trying to do too much too soon with Ubuntu. ... But just when I get really worried, the company makes a major move that impresses me. A case in point: Open source expert Matt Asay has joined Canonical as chief operating officer. It's a big move for Canonical, Ubuntu and Asay. Here's why.

The hiring of Linux-savvy and revenue-minded exec-slash-blogger Matt Asay as the new chief operating officer of Canonical looks like a very good — and telling — move for the Isle of Man- (really London-but-don't-tell-anyone) based company that oversees the growing-by-leaps-bounds-and-all-other-ways Ubuntu Linux distribution and surrounding universe.

Asay's job will be make sure operational activities match up to the company's strategic goals and make sure that day-to-day operations go smoothly. He will also head up Canonical's marketing. Asay is extremely well known and respected in open-source business and technology circles. [However, Pamela Jones takes exception to Asay's defense of Microsoft in her NewsPicks comment on this story. - gus3]

Latest new examples of Microsoft playing unfair and distorting facts

But the one area in which (Matt Asay and I) have never seen eye to eye is the Linux desktop. I certainly don’t agree that desktop Linux is “utter crap” compared to Mac or Windows, and I’ve disagreed with his statements on desktop Linux for years, particularly in the area of application installation. Matt’s on the record as not liking the Linux desktop, though I’m not sure why, so the fact that we agree to disagree on this subject is not surprising.

An analysis of Microsoft's latest admission regarding the Free software threat.

This is huge! Microsoft and Red Hat have signed a *patent-free* virtualization interoperability pact. Here's Red Hat's press release and some analysis by Matt Asay here. Congratulations to Red Hat for refusing to buckle on this vital matter, and to Red Hat Legal for working out the details, and a tip of the hat to Microsoft, for facing reality and doing the right thing.