Extortion is extortion. Using softer methods just makes it harder to
stop.
In the case of the BSA, there are indications that it has been used to
remove competing closed source applications and systems, especially Novell
Netware, by negotiating settlements which are exclusive deals between MS
and the business being raided.
e.g. http://www.motherjones.com/news/feature/1998/01/burstein.html
-Lars
Lars Nooden ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Software patents endanger the legal certainty of software.
Keep them out of the EU by writing your MEP, keep the market open.
On Fri, 9 Dec 2005, Randomthots wrote:
I'm sorry if this was answered by the links. I haven't seen an answer
in this thread though.
Jonathan cited personal experience. Now that might be all that he has
but in the context of all the other evidence it seems plausible and
personally I wouldn't want to call him a liar.
If you read the background, for example, of the Ernie Ball guitar
strings case and the reasons why they migrated to Linux, the evidence is
that if that had been a smaller less financially secure company, the
action could well have led to the company being shut down. A large
multinational filing a law suite against a small company could well
result in it going out of business whether or not the small company had
done anything at all wrong. If MS proved their grievance, and in the
Ernie Ball case it was obviously a genuine mistake, they could then
claim the company's assets in compensation. If compensation > assets
that gives the exact scenario Jonathan described.
So I would say that if something like that happened to Jonathan or a
friend or colleague of his, its entirely plausible.
Why anyone would want to devote so much time to defending a criminal
that is a repeated offender, shows no remorse or willingness to reform
is beyond me, especially when that criminal is also the major competitor
to our own project. I can only think this is deliberate mischief.
We have a saying here in the states that goes something like this:
If you want to steal a little money, buy a gun. If you want to steal a LOT of
money, buy a lawyer.
The fact is that this whole business with Ernie Ball has to do with the
Business Software Alliance and enforcing software licenses. I guess these are
the "enforcers" that Jonathon was speaking of. They're guys in suits and
their weapons are subpoenas. Jonathon makes them sound like goons with guns
and brass knuckles. It's frustrating and often sad and tragic, but it's not
the mafia. And it's not illegal or criminal.
We really need to reserve some, if not most or all, or our disapprobation for
the politicians which aid and abet this nonsense. Some things that Microsoft
has done *are* illegal, but it's kind of a fuzzy situation in that these same
actions wouldn't be illegal if they had less market share. So phrases like
"convicted monopolist"... I'm not even sure what the hell that means.
The comedian, Gallagher, said, "The question isn't whether or not you pick
your nose, it's where you wipe the booger." Similarly, it's not illegal to
*be* a monopoly, but it does seem to be illegal to *act* *like* a monopoly.
So then the question is when is a company big enough to be considered a
monopoly? The best answer I can come up with is, When it is big enough to act
like one.
It's a strange situation when something that's legal for me to do today is
illegal tomorrow, or it's legal for you but not for me. And most of this
stuff doesn't even have to do with legal or illegal, strictly speaking. Most
of the court actions, even by governments, have been torts seeking
compensation for damages.
In the U.S. we highly value a free, competitive, market-place. Most of the
time this means the government doesn't get involved, but we have also for a
long time recognized that "free" and "competitive" don't always go together,
so we regulate "natural monopolies" like utilities. What I think caught
everyone by surprise, and Microsoft took advantage of, is the idea that a
computer program -- the operating system -- could be a natural monopoly. And
with file format lock-in, the same could be said for an office suite.
Is it any wonder the lawyers make piles of money?
---------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
For additional commands, e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
