B Gruff wrote:
> On Thursday 27 April 2006 14:02 Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | Microsoft rejects claims it has prevented competition
>> | Microsoft's rivals are claiming that they have been forced
>> | to "play catch up" because the company has limited access to
>> | its software.
>> `----
>>
>> http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4949972.stm
>
> See also:-
>
> http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/04/27/ms_v_ec_day_four_morning/
>
> Flynn called on Samba founder Dr Tridgell. He said: ?I was very flattered
> by the comments from Microsoft yesterday that Samba provides a complete
> interoperability solution. I?d love to use those comments on the
> website?if they were true.?
>
> He said Samba was a long way from offering a complete interoperability
> solution - it was only up to NT4, or 10 years behind. Samba had itself
> changed direction in response to Microsoft's attitude to interoperability.
> He described the process by which Samba uncovers the protocols as slow and
> inefficient - "we?re always playing catch up".
>
> Tridgell said Microsoft was making a meal of providing the protocols, as
> the programming task of creating them was split. First, a developer would
> describe the interface in an IDL file and then go on to write the
> implementation or write the code. The relevant IDL files could be put on a
> floppy disk. He said Samba had some 13,000 lines of IDL files and believed
> the total to be 30,000 lines long.
>
> He said Microsoft?s ?blue bubble? was a barrier of secrecy and nothing
> more. The protocols are exactly the same within the bubble as outside,
> except they are secret.
>
> The court heard that the protocols are based on industry standards which
> had been extended or effectively hijacked by Microsoft.
What I liked most about that Reg article was this quote
"
Flynn finished by saying: "Information is not kept secret because it is
important, but in fact is important because it is kept secret. Microsoft's
use of standards created by third parties is particularly pernicious
behaviour."
"
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