____/ The Ghost In The Machine on Monday 20 August 2007 18:54 : \____
> In comp.os.linux.advocacy, [H]omer
> <spam@xxxxxxx>
> wrote
> on Mon, 20 Aug 2007 17:53:08 +0100
> <mgtop4-1ut.ln1@xxxxxxxxxx>:
>> Verily I say unto thee, that Roy Schestowitz spake thusly:
>>
>>> | Linus: I actually don't worry about MS at all.
>>
>> Why should he? After all he "likes Tivoisation", so the prospect of
>> Microsoft turning GNU/Linux into just another proprietary blob of
>> Microsoft patented code shouldn't bother him at all. They're just
>> "sharing" his code then "giving" it back, aren't they? So OK, what
>> they're "giving back" is toxic waste designed to poison the Free
>> Software community, but hey ... that's just nit-picking.
>>
>
> Linux already *is* proprietary code -- it's just that the
> license is such that anyone can modify and rerelease it,
> and thereby include himself as one of the large number of
> already-present proprietors, including individuals in IBM.
> Ownership should ideally be noted in every file's top
> comments, were everything perfectly recorded -- which it
> probably isn't. :-)
>
> (Certain corner cases might ensue if one replaces all
> of implementor A's lines with one's own in order to fix
> a bug.)
>
> The GPL does not circumvent copyright law; it merely allows
> for certain rights to be exercised on documents under it.
> Again, these rights include modification and rerelease of
> the product.
>
> (And Linux is under the LGPL last time I looked anyway,
> with a special exemption that Linux+executed program !=
> derived work of Linux, presumably for technical reasons.
> I'm going to have to look to see what LGPL requires in the
> way of licensing the modified work. Disclaimer: IANAL.
> Things get a bit ticklish in that area.)
>
> Whether Microsoft can in fact poison the FLOSS community
> may be immaterial; they are on record as having already
> attempted such (remember "Get The Facts/TCO"? AFAICT,
> that counts).
>
> Still wondering what "Tivoisation" is in this context,
> though the picture's getting a little clearer, and I can't
> say I like it. However, Linus will probably not have the
> last word on all this anyway (certainly *I* won't! :-) );
> given too much commercial pressure, the source code will
> simply fork, as it has with a number of other big packages,
> X and Mozilla coming to mind.
X is branched out, not forked. Maybe there are forks as well, but they won't
survive in the wild. The multi-touch hack is apparently making it upstream now
and gets integrated into next year's release.
> So we'll have the Microsoft Official Linux OS(tm), and The
> It's-POSIX-but-Not-Quite-Linux-So-We'll-Call-It-Something-Else
> OS, worst case.
Linspire --- SJVN: "executive exodus"
Novell --- "too-Microsoft dependent", according to ZDNet blogs.
Xandros -- anyone is actually using it?
Free software is a natural choice. Those who defect will perish.
> Stay tuned, folks. :-)
Al Capone culture didn't make in into the 21st century, but it carries on
trying.
Shuttleworth: Microsoft Fracturing the Open-Source Community
,----[ Quote ]
| "That's extortion and we should call it what it is," he said. "To say, as
| [Microsoft CEO Steve] Ballmer did, that there is undisclosed balance sheet
| liability, that's just extortion and we should refuse to get drawn into that
| game. On the other side, if Microsoft is concerned about its intellectual
| property, there is no one in the free software community that wants to
| violate anyone's IP. Disclose the patents and we'll fix the code.
| Alternatively, move on."
|
| Microsoft has said it does disclose which patents are being violated, but
| only in one-on-one conversations with vendors. To Shuttleworth, that is not
| disclosure, because patents are public documents.
`----
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,2167193,00.asp?kc=EWRSS03129TX1K0000616
[Mark Shuttleworth Interview]
,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft is asking people to pay them for patents, but they won't
| say which ones. If a guy walks into a shop and says: "It's an
| unsafe neighbourhood, why don't you pay me 20 bucks and I'll make
| sure you're okay," that's illegal. It's racketeering. What Microsoft
| is doing with intellectual property is exactly the same. It's a great
| company and I have great admiration for it, but this was not a
| well considered position.
|
| So you wouldn't do a deal?
|
| No, absolutely not. But the time will come when the folks at
| Microsoft who have a clear vision for the company as a participant
| in this community, rather than as a hostile antagonist, will win.
`----
http://mybroadband.co.za/nephp/?m=show&id=6672
I've still got me (sic) knees in tact.
--
~~ Best of wishes
Roy S. Schestowitz | "Lions are like hippie tigers"
http://Schestowitz.com | Free as in Free Beer | PGP-Key: 0x74572E8E
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