On Thu, 2002-11-28 at 18:05, Buchan Milne wrote: > I am sure many people on this list consider Mandrake to be one of the > few viable competitors to Microsoft. Remember that Mandrake is probably > approaching the same market share Apple has. I think MS would take Apple > on if they had to. > > For whatever wierd reason, lawyers are expensive. No matter what the > outcome would be, I think Mandrakesoft would rather pay their developers > than lawyers to represent them at such a case. > > We'll put the RPM in PLF, and it will have to stay there until > Mandrakesoft has $40 Billion in cash (assuming MS's cashpile doesn't grow). > > People will have to learn about PLF, or sponsor better, freely licensed > fonts.
Sorry Buchan, but you're simply restating the case I'm replying to, not replying to my case. You haven't given any convincing reasoning why Mandrake would need to spend any significant amount on legal representation, because that assertion presupposes that a case against Mandrake on the basis of this RPM could get anywhere at all in any legal system, which I simply don't think is the case. You also haven't given any reason to believe Microsoft would *want* to launch such an action; can you please give me a single reasonable (from Microsoft's perspective) ground for such an action? People on this list might indeed consider Mandrake competitors to Microsoft, but that doesn't matter a fig. What matters is what Microsoft thinks, and Microsoft simply doesn't consider Linux a credible desktop OS. Thus what it sees as a marginal, desktop-based Linux distribution is seen as no threat to it at all. It sees Linux as significant competition in the mid-range server space, where Red Hat and UnitedLinux are perceived to the be significant Linux forces, along with IBM. I doubt Mandrake has anything like Apple's share of the desktop O/S segment. Apple's share is around 5%; the combined share of *all* *nix O/Ses on the desktop is, I think, below that 5%, let alone Mandrake's *individual* share. -- adamw
