Open source does the good-cop, bad-cop routine

One of the great frustrations in dealing with Microsoft on open source questions is its tendency to play "good-cop bad-cop" games. (The image at right is actually the logo of a record label in Boston, which you might want to visit.)

Good-cop bad-cop is a great interrogation technique "As Seen On TV." The Brits call it Mutt and Jeff.

One cop treats the perp roughly, then the other sends him out of the room and acts kindly. Or vice versa. The perp then spills his guts to the good cop because he fears the bad one.

It works because it's transparent and at the same time opaque. It's transparent because the differences are plain to the perp. But it's opaque because the bad cop may be pretending, or he might really mean it. The perp doesn't know. It's the uncertainty that gets them.  

At Microsoft Steve Ballmer is the bad cop, and a variety of spokesmen or "open source" people play the good cop. Sometimes the "good cop" is represented by a Microsoft release of its own open source code.

What this week proves is that the open source movement has learned to play the same game.

In this case, Jim Zemlin of the Linux Foundation is playing the bad cop role. His shot across the bow at Microsoft this week was pure bad cop schtick. Then here comes the Free Software Foundation, playing the good cop, approving Microsoft's November deal with Novell.  

With the addition, I should add, of  cryptic language stating that the Novell deal can be turned to the community's benefit.

Hard to know what that means. Which I think is the idea. Microsoft wants to treat open source as a perp on a cop show. Open source can treat Microsoft the same way.