As an aside, it's interesting how you have gone to the trouble of 'translating' my comments into American ;)
On Sun, 13 Jan 2008, Erik de Castro Lopo <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Sridhar Dhanapalan wrote: > We have all seen Microsoft's behavior towards Linux and FOSS, > we have seen Balmer's statements that Linux is a cancer, we have > seen the links to SCO, the dirty tricks against FOSS in the > third world, the campaign against OLPC, the OOXML related stacking > if standards bodies, the patent related threats, the conviction > of anti-competitive behaviour (with a punishment that seemed more > like a reward than a punishment) and thats just what I can remember > off the top of my head. I usually tell people to type 'microsoft findings of fact' into Google and hit the 'I feel lucky' button :) > With that history, I wonder what more there is to say and what more > is there to understand. A humble apology from Microsoft would be > interesting, but that has to come from Balmer not from minions like > these people. > > > I sympathize with your view, but what makes the Free Software world > > better than the proprietary dominion is that we are open to code, ideas > > and discussion. By suppressing conversation, we become more like them, > > not less. > > I agree with you on this for the vast majority of cases but not for > Microsoft. Think: IBM. Once the Big Bad Wolf of the IT industry, and champion of proprietary technologies and closed thinking, they have dramatically altered their image within a short period of time. Who would've thunk it? If we close ourselves off to these possibilities, we will not only be forsaking our principles, we will also be doing ourselves a major disservice. Erik, your thoughts are all very valid, and I'd be stupid not to be thinking them too. With that said, I do believe strongly in keeping an open door, in line with what I perceive to be our ethos. -- I used to be into S&M, necrophilia, and bestiality - then I realised I was just beating a dead horse.
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