Agreed - it's good to be cautious - but, Microsoft's approach toward E/E/E was rational (if slightly evil), when they were trying to control the platform.
But now, they are trying to control the service/data, in which case the cloud-API (theirs, preferably) is what they want everyone to buy into. In that model, they deploy completely proprietary service interfaces (similar to what Amazon does with AWS, stripe with their API, etc..) - but at the same time, they want to have 100% support of all platforms - particularly in the mobile world where they have round-off presence.
Net-Net, It's entirely rational for a profit-maximizing Microsoft (of 2016, at least) to play nice with all alternative client platforms. I believe Satya Nadella's Microsoft is going to be a very difference animal than the Balmer/Gates Microsoft.
I guess we'll see over the next 5 years, but it looks positive so far.
Oh, we're already seeing ahemSkypeahem. Is that not MS? Is that not Linux? Is that not seriously user-hostile? (Ohbutthat'ssomethingcompletelydifferent. Right?)
Not really. I'd say it's more that Skype on Linux isn't a priority for them. They have it on Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS...
And if you think it's user-hostile for MS to not continue development of Skype on Linux, don't you have to agree that Instagram, Snapchat, and all the other app developers that don't release apps for Windows Phone are user-hostile as well?
There's a difference between "let's not start a port of Y at all" and "start degrading experience on an existing port of Z." (See? "MS is completely pro-Linux (where completely excludes anything that contradicts this, leading to a nice circular definition)" - that's as no-true-scotsman as you can get)
You are very clearly grabbing at straws here. This isn't some nefarious tinfoil hat plot. I honestly suspect their focus is truly being spent elsewhere.
Considering how inept the development of Skype was during the last years on any platform i find it completely unplausible that there is any nefarious intent to this.
Skype works fine on IOS, Mac, Windows(obv), and Android as well.
The number of people who run linux on their desktop is probably on the same order as those who run BlackBerry - neither one of which has enough market presence to make it worth writing/maintaining apps for them. I'm pretty sure Skype isn't available from MS on OpenBSD either. (And, honestly, pretty soon, I wouldn't be shocked if Windows Phone doesn't get the same care and attention that IOS does).
The desktop (win32) Skype app is pretty crappy even on a surface pro 3 and a lot of features are still missing in their UWA apps. For something as important (for microsoft) as Skype the software is bad.
I might be wrong about you personally and I am speaking of the Linux Community as a whole.
I still find it incredibly hypocritical of people's anti-Microsoft stance while they walk around with their Apple products. I seriously see more Macs at every Linux event then any other kind of computer. Most Anti-Microsoft really is anti-Steve Ballmer.
I think Apple at least has not tried to strategically attack linux/OSS via rumors and lies a la halloween documents.
But I certainly agree that the linux community on a whole should re-evaluate its position on MS. If you expect that to happen over night, you are a fool.
Once again that is Steve Ballmer. If this was a whole corporate belief it would have been true through the whole company and its policy and it wasn't.
NOT defending the bad parts of MS but people treat MS as the evil empire when it was a divided HUGE company. Inside MS there were plenty of positive open source people and projects inside of MS. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_free_and_open-sourc...
I believe the Anti-MS is way out of proportion and distracts from worse offenders. Look at Oracle that company is the devil to Open/Free software and people will still run Oracle products all the time. (Stares at my own OpenBox for use with Vagrant on my Windows machine next to me). IBM and their incredible patent farm (IBM year in and year out the number one patent company in America).
Apple is the polar opposite of the open source movement. Apple has been guilty of price fixing ebooks, patent misuse and the copyrighting of design and slide to unlock. Apple does not work with the community but behind high secret walls. You share a secret and they might send the police after you or sue you. They black list reporters that share an opinion that is negative to Apple from access to the company, events and products.
So yes MS has made many bad moves but I wouldn't even say they are the worst. If you take out anything Steve Ballmer has said they are actually were better then most.
Open Source Movement has won and we should celebrate the victories. SQL Server on Linux I wouldn't have thought this in a million years and C# opened. These are amazing days.
Even given all that MSFT has been more antagonistic to Linux in the past. Ballmer was not even CEO when the halloween docs we released, I find it difficult to believe, that Ballmer is the sole cause of MSFTs anti OSS positions.
TBH I agree with you on most points, but calling linux users who have mac hardware hypocrites is a stretch given MSFT's track record.
Microsoft has a long way to go before they get the benefit of the doubt from me due to their decades of Embracing Extending and Extinguishing.