Microsoft Searching for New Open Source Director

Microsoft has a help wanted ad on LinkedIn looking for a “Director, Open Source Desktop Strategy.” However, before you fire off that resume, excited about the prospect of affecting some change at MS around FOSS, you should check out the description:

The Windows Competitive Strategy team is looking for a strong team member to lead Microsoft’s global desktop competitive strategy as it relates to open source competitors.

Clearly this position is slightly different than the one held by the Director of Open Source Strategy, Bryan Kirschner, who’s job it is to lead “Microsoft’s efforts establishing strategy and practices to foster constructive and complementary relationships between Microsoft and OSS.”

I think the responsibilities of the new position can be summed up with the following line from the ad: “Build a fact-based marketing plan that articulates the Windows Client value proposition to partners and customers.” Which roughly translates to “duplicate our ‘Lower TCO‘ Windows Server campaign for Windows Desktop.”

But would something like this work? Or would it be the biggest ad campaign Linux on the desktop ever had?