MS Tries to Nab Open Source Evangelist

Microsoft has apparently tried to hire open source evangelist Eric S. Raymond (known in the community as ESR), according to a post on his Web log late Thursday.

According to a copy of an e-mail he received from Mike Walters, a recruiter for the Central Sourcing Team at Microsoft, a member of the research team forwarded Raymond's name to Walters as a possible candidate for an engineering job at the Redmond company.

"I would love an opportunity to speak with you in detail about your interest in a career at Microsoft," Walters wrote.

Raymond obviously declined the offer, telling Walters that somebody was "probably having a little joke at his expense." The open source evangelist has publicly denounced Microsoft in the past and once told Craig Mundie, a Microsoft CTO, that he was the company's "worst nightmare."

ESR is also the open source community's equivalent of Robert Scoble, so asking Raymond to work for Microsoft would be a lot like asking Microsoft's most prominent blogger to go work for Red Hat.

"On the day *I* go to work for Microsoft, faint oinking sounds will be heard from far overhead, the moon will not merely turn blue but develop polkadots, and hell will freeze over so solid the brimstone will go superconductive," Raymond apparently wrote back.

There was no word on any response from Walters.