On 11/6/06, tuxta2 <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
What do you people think? I would be very interested to hear some opinions.
This comment seems to be realistic, except for the finishing off bit. I think Microsoft has much more to gain by keeping Linux around and selling IP licenses for it. http://news.linux.com/comments.pl?sid=37578&cid=92628 Humour piece, apparently from 1995: http://www.usd.edu/~bwjames/humor/ms/novel.html FSF article from April this year: http://www.fsfeurope.org/projects/ms-vs-eu/article-20060421.en.html My thought on Microsoft's strategy: embrace, extend, and emasculate or enslave. If software patents are widely recognised then Microsoft can force Linux to be nothing more than a backyard hobby, or charge for it, all while appearing not to be a monopoly, because after all, it's reasonable to charge for your IP, right? FSF won't push the GPL issue, because if they do, Microsoft will threaten litigation against other distros on patent grounds. The FSF will be able to go ahead and most likely lose, or back off and cement the validity of software patents. The only way Linux will last as an independant force in the long run is to fight software patents. We need to make sure there is at least one major market where the patents don't have force. If you have to license Linux in the USA, but not in the EU, Microsoft will be tortured by the USA corporations, so they won't push it until they've made the EU think licensing is OK, which is why Novell is such a good ally for them, as it's the strong in the EU. Ben -- SLUG - Sydney Linux User's Group Mailing List - http://slug.org.au/ Subscription info and FAQs: http://slug.org.au/faq/mailinglists.html
