--- Eric Marsden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > To: Liste Linux-31 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Organization: LAAS-CNRS http://www.laas.fr/ > From: Eric Marsden <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: 10 Nov 1999 10:23:09 +0100 > Subject: [linux-31] FSF named in federal antitrust > action > > Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. Department of Justice > today announced a > major new antitrust action against the Free Software > Foundation of > Cambridge, MA. "After our successful prosecution of > Microsoft, we feel > ready to pursue similar cases elsewhere in the > software industry," said > Attorney General Janet Reno in a press conference. > "The FSF, under the > guidance of Mr. Richard M. Stallman, has pursued, > and continues to pursue, > anti-competitive practices designed to perpetuate > its illegal monopoly of > the so-called 'free software' market." > > In particular, the Attorney General cited the FSF's > ongoing effort to gain > market share in various product categories by > illegally bundling other > products into their successful Emacs text editor. > "Thanks to Judge Jackson, > we now have legal precedent that a web browser > cannot be considered part of > an operating system," she said. "We feel that this > finding is also > applicable to text editors. Emacs, in fact, does > include a web browser as > well as e-mail and other capabilities that are not > normally considered to be > part and parcel of a text editor." Responding to a > reporter's question, Ms. > Reno confirmed that "Emacs is the primary focus of > our action." > > Ms. Reno also addressed the FSF's ambitions in the > operating system niche. > "FSF had been attempting for some time to dominate > the market for free > operating systems with their 'GNU' platform. > However, while they produced a > number of user-level tools, their kernel was even > more mythical than a > reliable version of Windows 98 until their > successful takeover of the Linux > franchise, now known, significantly, as > 'GNU/Linux'." > > Federal prosecutors Joel Klein and David Boies, both > veterans of the > successful Microsoft suit, are heading up the FSF > enquiry. "I realize that > some users feel that they use FSF products by > choice," said Klein. "But how > many Linux systems have you seen that don't have the > core GNU utilities > installed? Our estimate is that these programs are > present on 100% of Linux > machines. When such a high percentage of market > share is held by one player, > it's clear that an illegal monopoly exists." > > Initial analysis/speculation by various media > talking heads failed to find > consensus regarding the possible outcome of the > government suit. At minimum, > the government will most likely seek to have the FSF > break out the various > functional components of Emacs into separate > products and discontinue the > use of the anti-competitive GNU Public License, > which has been described as > a "free-software virus" which forces third-party > software developers to > release their products under terms dictated by the > FSF. Other possibilities > include punitive damages and even the breakup of the > FSF into separate > operating system and application groups. > > --------------------------------------------------------------------- > Aide sur la liste: > <URL:mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Le CULTe sur le web: > <URL:http://savage.iut-blagnac.fr/> > > >
===== L'AFP nous dit: "Aucun des systèmes d'exploitation concurrents ne peut facilement être installé sur un PC, contrairement à Windows, où il suffit de lancer un CD-ROM"... <PENSEE> ... par la fenetre? </PENSEE> __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Bid and sell for free at http://auctions.yahoo.com
