On Sun, 2003-06-15 at 19:46, Adrian Midgley wrote: > > >Mrs McCarthy reiterated her misleading statements along with > > > insinuations about free/opensource software in the style of > > > the Microsoft FUD department. > > My comment on there includes > > "The newspeak description of Free/Libre Software as "a different > sort of monopoly" suggests to me the phrase passed through the > Rt Hon MEP having come from a briefer. > > So can anyone pinpoint the briefing person, company, or interest > concerned?"
It might be Adam Smith. Yes, THAT Adam Smith. Grep for "a different sort of monopoly" in Chapt VII, book IV of The Wealth of Nations (see http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/smith-adam/works/wealth-of-nations/book04/ch07c-2.htm It is probably just a co-incidence but if true, the context is ironic, because Smith was decrying the distortions caused by the State-sponsored trade monopolies established in the European colonies - patents are of course State-sponsored monopolies on the use of ideas. > It certainly does sound similar to the MS brand of BS. I suspect Ballmer and Gates are great fans of Adam Smith's laissez-faire capitalism, at least it suits them. -- Tim C PGP/GnuPG Key 1024D/EAF993D0 available from keyservers everywhere or at http://members.optushome.com.au/tchur/pubkey.asc Key fingerprint = 8C22 BF76 33BA B3B5 1D5B EB37 7891 46A9 EAF9 93D0
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