Why Doesn't Microsoft Have A Cult Religion?
Apple has one. So does the Java community, Oracle, IBM, and Google. Lord knows anyone who uses Linux or free and open source software is dedicated to spreading the gospel of St. Linus Torvalds and St. Richard Stallman. But does anyone really worship the Gods of Redmond?
Context & Ripple Effects
InformationWeek's question lands in the middle of a charged week for Microsoft's public image: the same day, Fortune runs Microsoft takes on the free world, framing Redmond's confrontation with open source, while Computerworld's cynic rips open source the day before shows the counterargument already in circulation.
Against that backdrop, the piece isolates an asymmetry every player in the fight already knows: Apple, Google, IBM, Oracle, and the Java and Linux communities each field volunteer evangelists — down to the gospel-of-Torvalds-and-Stallman framing — while Microsoft argues its case through press releases and partner channels alone.
First-order effects
- Microsoft's pushback against Linux and open source during this 2007 standoff is conducted without a grassroots vanguard, so its messaging depends entirely on paid channels while rivals' users defend them for free.
- Apple, Google, IBM, and Oracle extract ongoing advocacy, bug-testing, and word-of-mouth from their devotee bases at near-zero marginal cost.
Second-order effects
- Unable to earn devotion organically, Microsoft substitutes money for believers — developer programs, partner incentives, and enterprise relationships become the mechanism for the loyalty its competitors get from community identity.
- Rivals' communities double as recruiting funnels and credibility shields, widening a talent-and-narrative gap that Redmond's product quality alone cannot close.
Third-order effects
- If devotion tracks perceived openness, Microsoft's closed-stack identity carries a lasting brand tax among developers, fixable only through cultural change at Redmond or by accepting that enterprises, not enthusiasts, are its natural congregation.
- The pattern points toward platform competition being decided partly on community identity — a structural factor that rewards companies able to make users feel like members rather than customers.
The trend: Platform competition in the mid-2000s is shifting from feature lists to community identity, where a devoted user base functions simultaneously as marketing, support, and strategic defense.