__/ [ amicus_curious ] on Monday 04 December 2006 13:55 \__
>
> "Roy Schestowitz" <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
> news:4089355.3NmMo4hLDd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
>> Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | Let's take a closer look at the what is being offered as part of
>> | this "royalty free" deal from Microsoft....Not very open source
>> | friendly, is this? You can marry into the family and get
>> | protection from the Godfather, but you can't transfer this to
>> | anyone. They need to make their own accommodation with
>> | Microsoft. This makes me wonder about the Microsoft-funded
>> | ODF Add-in for Word that Clever Age and others are working
>> | on. This add-in does UI-level manipulations of the Office 2007
>> | ribbon. Are they covered under Microsoft's license program? Are
>> | their user's covered? What about anyone who takes the source code
>> | and modifies it and redistributes it?...This is very reminiscent
>> | of the original license on the Microsoft binary file formats,
>> | back in the days when the specifications were published on MSDN
>> | CD's...Interestingly in that case, once they achieved their goal
>> | of total market domination, Microsoft removed the file format
>> | documentation from MSDN and it was only available under a special
>> | license. They started open, in order to gain market domination,
>> | but once their goals were achieved, the openness ended. What
>> | prevents this from happening again?
>> `----
>>
>> http://www.robweir.com/blog/2006/11/beware-of-geeks-bearing-gifts.h
>>
> The blogger seems to be poorly informed as to how legitimate business view
> copyrights and trademarks. He substitutes a sort of conspiracy paranoia
> for understanding.
Oops. I messed up with the URL:
http://www.robweir.com/blog/2006/11/beware-of-geeks-bearing-gifts.html
I definitely agree with the author. Maybe he just didn't explain it well
enough or made the argument compelling to have you convinced.
>> Also related to:
>>
>> Ballmer: Vista to Spur 'Wave of Innovation'
>>
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>> | This includes new products like SharePoint Server 2007 and Exchange
>> | Server 2007, he said, adding that the new enterprise versions of
>> | both Vista and Office 2007 bring new capabilities such as
>> | enterprise services for Exchange and SharePoint.
>> `----
>>
>> http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0%2C1895%2C2066535%2C00.asp
>>
>> The exit routes are available now, but the intent is to eliminate them.
--
Roy S. Schestowitz | McDonald's Certified Sandwich Engineer (MCSE)
http://Schestowitz.com | RHAT Linux | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
2:05pm up 47 days 0:19, 8 users, load average: 0.41, 1.10, 1.15
http://iuron.com - Open Source knowledge engine project
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