On Tue, 29 Jul 2008, M. Fioretti wrote:
as far as I'm concerned, you're really preaching to the choir here :-)
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/9594#mpart8
I wasn't aware of that article.
Thank you for that.
One thing of particular concern in that article, and it makes Novell
somewhat disreputable, is the part:
"A couple of months ago, Microsoft and another software company,
Novell, signed a technical cooperation agreement. A part of this
agreement may turn out as highly dangerous for almost all citizens, but
it is not the one that the majority of critics addressed.
With this agreement, Microsoft commits not to sue, for patent
infringement and other intellectual property violations, the users of
the specific version of Linux packaged and distributed by Novell."
In Australia, in the Trade Practices Act, is a term; "restrictive
trading", which is supposed to be illegal in Australia, and, if the ACCC
(the regulatory body that is SUPPOSED to protect Australian consumers
against shady business practices, such as monopolies and restrictive
trading, and otherwise "unconscionable business practices" (another term
in the legislation, describing a proscribed offence) ) had any kind of
integrity (it is a bit lacking in integrity, being run more for
political purposes), it would be investigating this deal, with a view to
prosecuting both M$ and Novell.
But, shady companies that enter into such agreements with rich and
powerful companies like M$, tend to get away with it.
It is a bit like the QANTAS executive in the USA, who was today reported
as having been sentenced by a USA judge, to 6 months imprisonment, for
price fixing, and the USA judge reportedly said that the top brass of
QANTAS, who were the real culprits, would probably never be brought to
justice, as shady business dealings are apparently sometimes legal in
Australia.
--
Bret Busby
Armadale
West Australia
..............
"So once you do know what the question actually is,
you'll know what the answer means."
- Deep Thought,
Chapter 28 of Book 1 of
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:
A Trilogy In Four Parts",
written by Douglas Adams,
published by Pan Books, 1992
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