__/ [ Linonut ] on Friday 01 June 2007 14:04 \__
> After takin' a swig o' grog, [H]omer belched out this bit o' wisdom:
>
>> Verily I say unto thee, that Roy Schestowitz spake thusly:
>>> Eben Moglen: MS should remove patents from Novell agreement (video)
>>>
>>> http://community.linux.com/article.pl?sid=07/05/17/1640207&tid=41&tid=12
>
> It is refreshing to see a video in an open-source format (ogg) that
> plays in an "untainted" browser (IceWeasel, based on FireFox), using
> plugins that were trivial to install from apt-get, on a 64-bit machine.
It'll probably reach GooTube as well. There's free software that can handle
YouTube now.
>> Brief and to the point.
>
> Eben Moglen's clarity and his up-front, non-secretive, out-in-the-open
> approach is in stark contrast to Ballmer's bellowing, Microsoft's NDA's
> and trojaned EULA's, and "be very afraid (if you compete with us)"
> approach.
Keen observation.
>> The upshot is, that ironically the IP that Microsoft sought to (further)
>> protect with assurances from Novell, will be exactly the same IP that
>> becomes exposed (read: threatened) to the license requirements of GPL3.
>
> The flaw here, to me, is that Microvell can still push the stuff they
> have. Even though they slowly become out of date (no single company can
> keep up with their own private fork of the whole set of GPL software
> available in GNU/Linux), the Microsoft name will go a long way into
> snookering people that they're getting the real thing direct from the
> GNU/Linux community.
They are unlikely to maintain forks. More likely, they will rethink or revise
their arrangements with Microsoft. They think of it as a "worst-case
scenario", but it's probably more of an "inevitable scenario".
>> Of course that's putting it rather euphemistically. The *real*
>> motivation was to produce "The SCO effect", but it looks like that
>> strategy will seriously backfire, unless MS retreat from their very
>> exposed position.
>
> Microsoft has generated some very good will among Microsoft-centric
> developers for their strategy of being more open about their dev tools.
> And some more good will among corporations for their attempts (however
> feeble we may view them to be) to be interoperable.
>
> I think they're squandering that good will.
>
> How?
>
> One simple way -- threatening their customers.
That's exactly the point BetaNews made.
,----[ Quote ]
| "I'm stunned that after taking a number of seemingly positive steps
| vis-a-vis its thinking and strategy around open source, Microsoft has
| decided to blow away any bridges it built in a matter of weeks," long
| time Microsoft pundit Mary Jo Foley opined.
|
| She noted that Microsoft's threat to sue had backfired, and pointed
| to a website that lists over 300 open-source supporters that are
| openly asking Microsoft to sue them over alleged patent infringement.
|
| Microsoft is now in a tough predicament. Either it must stick to its
| guns, or attempt to back off and sweep what could become a public
| relations disaster under the rug.
`----
http://www.betanews.com/article/Microsoft_Steps_Up_OpenSource_Battle/1179859754
--
~~ Best regards
Roy S. Schestowitz | United States: #1 in spam export
http://Schestowitz.com | RHAT GNU/Linux ¦ PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
3:00pm up 33 days 23:22, 11 users, load average: 0.04, 0.23, 0.47
http://iuron.com - help build a non-profit search engine
|
|
