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Microsoft-Amazon IP deal dusts up old âtarget Linuxâ story
,----[ Quote ]
| But now, Iâm beginning to question why
| Linux and open source get such prominent
| mention in the press release on this
| latest deal with Amazon. Others have
| questioned why Amazon would agree to such
| a deal, and while I believe itâs often a
| reality of best interest/better than
| court, I also question how far any attempt
| at FUD can really travel in an industry
| that has largely already made its decision
| on Linux. For the most part and in most
| every case, the benefits outweigh the
| risks, whether they be real or perceived.
`----
http://blogs.the451group.com/opensource/2010/02/24/microsoft-amazon-ip-deal-dusts-up-old-target-linux-story/
Extortion
,----[ Quote ]
| If you want to spread FUD, this will do.
| We also have no word on how many
| businesses have told M$ where to go. So
| far they have only sued TomTom. United we
| stand. Divided we fall. Thatâs the game.
| If the world does not stand up to bullies
| they become more aggressive and dangerous.
| Seeking to diversify their cash cow, the
| patent portfolio will be milked
| repeatedly. I notice this does not rate an
| SEC filing so it is not huge but its FUD
| value may be much higher.
|
| The worst possible outcome is the
| extension of the M$ tax to GNU/Linux. That
| will not happen. Software patents are on
| their way out. Copyright FUD did not work
| for SCOG, M$âs stooge. Patent FUD will not
| work for M$. Even if they somehow play the
| game out for years as SCOG has done,
| patents expire in much shorter time than
| copyrights. The best M$ can hope to do it
| use this FUD to retain control of the US
| market where software patents are
| tolerated. Most of the rest of the world
| gives them no play.
`----
http://pogson.6k.ca/2010/02/23/extortion/
Is Microsoft the New Old IBM: a Ponderous Innot-vator?
,----[ Quote ]
| Twenty years ago IBM was a bloated,
| ponderous corporate giant, dominating the
| computing world not by advancing
| technology but by intimidating not only
| its few competitors, but even its
| customers. Did a long-term user of IBM's
| support services buy so much as a single
| product from Amdahl? Too bad -- the
| service contract was de facto terminated.
| It seemed there was no way to break the
| stranglehold IBM had on the very concept
| of computing. (If you want the full story
| on all of this, I recommend "Who Says
| Elephants Can't Dance?" by Louis Gerstner,
| the CEO who turned IBM around)
|
| [...]
|
| As to Microsoft, that article shows how
| perfectly they are imitating the flawed
| history of IBM by attempting to intimidate
| anyone they regard as a rival.
`----
http://www.linuxplanet.com/linuxplanet/opinions/6994/1/
Recent:
Hackers break Amazon's Kindle DRM
,----[ Quote ]
| The hack began as an open challenge in this
| (translated) forum for participants to come up
| with a way to make ebooks published in Amazon's
| proprietary format display on competing
| readers. Eight days later, a user going by the
| handle Labba had a working program that did
| just that.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/12/23/amazon_kindle_hacked/
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