FSF's Brett Smith Answers Your GPLv3 Questions
,----[ Quote ]
| In the past few weeks, we've gotten a good sample of the tactics Microsoft
| is going to use against GPLv3. The so-called Association for
| Competitive Technology has been on the warpath. GPLv3 is an
| unenforceable contract, they say. You can't negotiate it. It's
| going to send us back to the bad old days of technology when
| different pieces of software couldn't talk to each other. Apparently,
| their plan is to say anything they can think of that sounds scary,
| and then see what sticks.
|
| Nothing good ever came of underestimating Microsoft's power, but I
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| think this is a pretty good sign for us. I don't think they're fooling
| anybody who honestly has an open mind about this subject. And once
| you see other big companies releasing software under GPLv3, I think
| that'll do a lot to dispel the FUD right there.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070501092619462
Emphasised is the part which shows why we must not stop mentioning Microsoft
in this newsgroup. The company hates Linux and the GPL with passion. It
would spend $billions attempting to destroy Free software because there is
too much at stake. Microsoft is losing its dominance.
Related:
Open sourcerers do battle for GPLv3
,----[ Quote ]
| Mark Taylor, a former head of the Open Source Consortium in the UK,
| thinks the whole thing is being blown out of all proportion.
|
| He told us: "The only people worrying about the GPL draft are people
| like ACT. Everyone else is really pleased with the draft. The original
| GPL aimed to prevent deals like the one between Novell and Microsoft.
| They just found a loophole. This draft closes it."
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/10/open_gpl3/
Clearing up anti-GPL3 FUD
,----[ Quote ]
| Some of the bad publicity about GPL3 is deliberate. A particularly
| bad article by Dan Lyons of Forbes magazine painted an offensive
| picture of GPL3 and Richard Stallman, even accusing Stallman of
| having sex with flowers (!!!) after Lyons failed to comprehend
| a scientific joke.
`----
http://technocrat.net/d/2007/3/22/16651/
Perens Lashes Out at Claims GPL 3 Brings Legal Risks
,----[ Quote ]
| "Let's make it clear that [ACT] is Microsoft's lobbying front and
| that they are going to paint as negative a picture as they can,"
| Perens told eWEEK in an interview.
|
| "Obviously, GPL software is displacing Microsoft enough to have
| them concerned, and it's doing it at customers who are important
| to them. A lawyer's job is to scare the other side if they can--because
| they know it's cheaper than winning a case in court," he said.
`----
http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2112267,00.asp
ACT ['Microsoft pressure group?'] Warns of Legal Risk with Latest GPL Draft
,----[ Quote ]
| But ACT, a Washington-based technology lobby group whose membership
| includes large companies like eBay, Oracle, Orbitz and VeriSign, and
| which was founded in 1998 in response to the Microsoft antitrust case,
| is largely dismissed by those in the open-source community as nothing
| more than a lobby group for the interests of Microsoft and those
| other large corporations.
`----
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Association_for_Competitive_Tecnology
,----[ Quote ]
| "ACT has been accused of being an industry front for Microsoft,
| promoting a Microsoft-friendly agenda in relation to property rights
| and anti-trust legislation."
`----
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Association_for_Competitive_Technology
,----[ Quote ]
| Long before it employed bloggers to do the job for it, Microsoft hired
| sympathetic members of the public to make its case in online forums,
| posing as disinterested citizens. Things got much more professional as
| the antitrust trial unfurled. After hiring DCI in the late 1990s,
| Microsoft created two new trade groups, the Association for Competitive
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| Technology (ACT), and the Americans for Technology Leadership (ALT),
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| and marshaled campaigns such as "Freedom to Innovate" - encouraging
| Windows users the chance to make spontaneous gestures of support for
| Chairman Bill.
|
| These weren't always too successful. A campaign in 2001 to petition 17
| state's Attorney Generals - who had pooled resources to bring their
| own antitrust action against Microsoft - resulted in supportive letters
| being written by dead people.
|
| And the astroturf taint continues today.
|
| Most recently, a spoof video portraying Al Gore as a Penguin was reported
| to have originated from a computer registered to the DCI Group, although
| the lobby group said it did not fund or approve the video.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/09/14/google_lobby/
State by state, Microsoft responds to creeping threat
,----[ Quote ]
| Characteristically, as lawmakers like Homan have learned,
| Microsoft's hardly taking a passive position.
|
| [...]
|
| 'Microsoft sees what's coming. Things like Word and Excel
| sort of like a drug now getting ready to go generic.'
`----
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/state-state-microsoft-responds-assault/story.aspx?guid=%7BC0D943C4%2D4ADC%2D471C%2D8F87%2D9181A4EC3E7B%7D&siteid=yhoof
http://tinyurl.com/2akafj
,----[ Quote ]
| As CIO of Massachusetts from February to November last year, Louis
| Gutierrez had to endure most of the brunt of Microsoft Corp.'s political
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| wrath over a state policy calling for the adoption of the Open Document
| ^^^^^
| Format for Office Applications, or ODF -- a rival to the software vendor's
| Office Open XML file format.
`----
http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9012760&source=rss_news50
,----[ Quote ]
| Quinn: Almost to a person, to anybody involved or who knows about
| the ODF issue, they attributed the story to Microsoft, right, wrong
| or otherwise. Senator Pacheco may be a bully but I do not believe he
| is disingenious and would stoop to such a tactic. Senator Pacheco and
| Secretary Galvin's office remain very heavily influenced by the
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| Microsoft money and its lobbyist machine, as witnessed by their
| ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
| playbook and words, in my opinion.
`----
http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20060119232859729
MA Governor-Elect Names MS Anti-ODF Lobbyist to Technology Advisory Group
http://www.consortiuminfo.org/standardsblog/article.php?story=20061128161343183
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