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[News] Microsoft Try to Impose Software Patents on FOSS, Invades FOSS Events

Can Microsoft 'do' open source by 2015?

,----[ Quote ]
| And Microsoft is in "on-going dialog" with community members over making it 
| easier to find the royalties in its documents. 
`----

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/19/ramji_microsoft_open_source_strategy/

Microsoft loves FOSS like it loves fire.

Goodbye FOSS welcome Microsoft-defined OSS? Naaa...

And watch what else is new:

Ballot Stuffer from Redmond Stuffs Another FOSS Conference (Romania)

,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft wants more influence in yet another Open Source and Free Software 
| conference 
`----

http://boycottnovell.com/2008/05/19/romania-eliberatica-microsoft/


Days ago:

Microsoft participation to stir open source summit talks

,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft Philippines will sponsor an open source summit in Cebu next month
| and this early, the software giant is bracing itself for lively discussions
| about openXML and the fact that the company will make its presence felt at
| the summit.
`----

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/infotech/view/20080516-136995/Microsoft-participation-to-stir-open-source-summit-talks


Recent:

Microsoft is Golden sponsor for the Java Developer Conference in Egypt

,----[ Quote ]
| Microsoft? Yes, Microsoft will be a Golden sponsor in the Java Developer 
| Conference which organized by the Egyptian Java User Group. 
`----

http://weblogs.java.net/blog/ahashim/archive/2008/02/microsoft_is_go_1.html


Microsoft Pays $200 for Mentioning Its Tools

,----[ Quote ]
| If you're a professor and you mention Microsoft programming tools in a 
| scholarly presentation -- in fact, even if you just use the tools -- 
| Microsoft will send you a check for $200.  
`----

http://chronicle.com/data/articles.dir/art-44.dir/issue-33.dir/33a03001.htm


Survey: Windows loses ground with developers

,----[ Quote ]
| Linux gaining share as the number of developers targeting Windows falls 
| 12 percent, Evans Data says
`----

http://www.infoworld.com/article/07/07/02/mswindows-share_1.html


Bill Gates’ Disdain for Open Source Even in Retirement

,----[ Quote ]
| Without compromise there is no progress. In the software world Gates was the
| Godfather he didn’t need to work with anyone until the Justice Department
| ruled against him. Even as the richest man in the world he’s got to work
| together with researchers and others if he wants to be successful. Too bad he
| didn’t learn anything about open source’s collaborative values it might have
| served him well as he tries to help cure disease and improve world health
| standards.
|
| I have to wonder if he will be able to make the transition from dictator to
| do-gooder or if he will just write checks?
`----

http://socializedsoftware.com/2008/04/24/bill-gates-disdain-for-open-source-even-in-retirement/


Three myths Microsoft tells Russia

,----[ Quote ]
| I figured it would be good to note (and then bury) three myths that I heard
| perpetuated by Microsoft at the Interop Moscow conference. They've been
| largely discredited elsewhere, but it appears Microsoft prefers to keep
| regurgitating the party line until abject ridicule sets in.
|
| 1. Myth: Open source can't innovate. Coming from Microsoft...
|
| [...]
|
| 2. Open source doesn't interoperate with other software well, while Microsoft
| does. Wow! The cheekiness of that one was breathtaking.
|
| [...]
|
| 3. There is no money in open source. It's funny to hear Microsoft use this
| one, as if its customers are desperate to hear it talk about how much money
| it makes at their expense.
|
| [...]
|
| Microsoft has gotten better in its open-source rhetoric. Now it just needs to
| make sure its far-flung outposts get the message, too.
`----

http://www.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9928657-16.html


Bill Gates, which we disagree with

,----[ Quote ]
| As but one more piece of testamentary evidence that the old guard at
| Microsoft needs to be shown the door, Bill Gates has demonstrated
| conclusively that he has exactly zero understanding of open source, or at
| least zero desire to have an intelligent discussion about it.
|
| [...]
|
| Open source insists upon leaving software open to further improvement. And if
| you were to read the European Union's report on open source, you'd see that
| it's actually a massive opportunity for improved GDP growth.
|
| What open source does is ensure that customers share equally in the economic
| benefits of software, rather than having profits hoarded by one company
| (i.e., Microsoft's model). The GPL does this perhaps best of all. In another
| age, Mr. Gates would have found the GPL to be a dear friend to his better
| capitalist instincts. It's actually a close cousin to a proprietary license
| in some ways, except that it protects through openness, not closed source.
`----

http://www.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9927661-16.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=TheOpenRoad


Bill Gates Claims Open Source Means Nobody Can Improve Software

,----[ Quote ]
| His complaint is that open source creates a license "so that nobody can ever
| improve the software." It's hard to figure out how to respond to that
| statement since it's the exact opposite of how open source software works.
| The exact point is that anyone can improve the software. It's proprietary
| software like Microsoft's that's limited such that only Microsoft is allowed
| to improve it. It's no secret that Gates isn't a fan of open source software,
| but it still seems odd that he would make a statement that is so obviously
| false, both in theory and in practice. Perhaps old FUD habits die hard, but
| one would hope that as he enters "retirement" he'll have a more open mind on
| such things.
`----

http://techdirt.com/articles/20080423/004519925.shtml


Bill Gates on Pharmaceuticals: The System Isn't Working

,----[ Quote ]
| One thing Gates won't be leaving behind in retirement is his distaste for
| open source software. After one scientist asked if Gates would consider open
| source uses in health research, the man who built his $280 billion company on
| the power of intellectual property bristled.
|
| "There's free software and then there’s open source," he suggested, noting
| that Microsoft gives away its software in developing countries. With open
| source software, on the other hand, "there is this thing called the GPL,
| which we disagree with."
|
| Open source, he said, creates a license "so that nobody can ever improve the
| software," he claimed, bemoaning the squandered opportunity for jobs and
| business. (Yes, Linux fans, we're aware of how distorted this definition is.)
| He went back to the analogy of pharmaceuticals: "I think if you invent drugs,
| you should be able to charge for them," he said, adding with a shrug: "That
| may seem radical."
`----

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/04/bill-gates-what.html

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