<div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 4:28 PM, Aaron Konstam <<a href="mailto:akonstam@sbcglobal.net">akonstam@sbcglobal.net</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> <div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c">On Fri, 2008-02-22 at 13:44 -0500, max bianco wrote: > > > On Wed, Feb 20, 2008 at 2:37 PM, Gene Heskett > <<a href="mailto:gene.heskett@verizon.net">gene.heskett@verizon.net</a>> wrote: > On Wednesday 20 February 2008, Phil Meyer wrote: > >Gene Heskett wrote: > >> Greetings folks; > >> > >> As a staunch believer in Open Source in the form of linux, > I've always > >> wondered just where M$ would attack linux, and it appears > they have found > >> an ally and a willing vehicle in Novel, who I am told now > owns gnome. > >> > >> I'll let the data in this link speak for itself. > >> > >> > <<a href="http://boycottnovell.com/2008/02/15/mono-contamination-in-ubuntu/" target="_blank">http://boycottnovell.com/2008/02/15/mono-contamination-in-ubuntu/</a>> > > > >... > > > >Might I recommend <a href="http://groklaw.net" target="_blank">http://groklaw.net</a> where these issues have > been > >researched as closely as humanly possible. > > > I follow Pamela. > > >MS is a real threat to the FOSS community, make no mistake. > However, > >most of their FUD campaigns fail under scrutiny. > > > >The single biggest threat to FOSS are software patents. It > is > >unknowable who will pull the trigger first. It might well be > MS, but it > >could be IBM or any number of patent trolls. > > > >If you want to really stretch the ability of your tinfoil > hat, just > >consider: > > > >1. IBM has the largest patent portfolio in the world. > >2. MS has submited as many as 3,000 patent applications a > year for the > >last several years. > >3. IBM has sold off all corporate assets that had contractual > >obligations to MS. > > > >Can you even imagine what would happen if IBM and MS were to > declare > >open war over software patents? > > > Both of which have deeeeep pockets, and could sue each other > for decades which > would in the end only enrichen the lawyers. No profit in > that. > > I've Been Moved is currently on our side, apparently having > seen the > handwriting on the wall several years ago. But M$ most > certainly isn't, and > I can't think of any better a way than to sign don't sue > agreements with one > of the more prolific contributors to FOSS in general, and sit > back and wait > till their contributions contain enough patented stuff to > throw a real 36" > monkey wrench in the gears by suing the rest of the linux > folks out of > existence because those deeeeep pockets aren't there. > , > > We will know M$ is desperate when they start canvasing neighborhoods > to see who's running linux. As for Novell, well they either screwed > themselves or did everyone a big favor( i think they just wanted the > infusion of capital). Microsoft has yet to reveal these supposed > patent violations, i think any court in the land would say that it is > reasonable to list the patents so that the situation can be rectified > but so far they have refused. I believe they are full of shit and they > won't list the violations either because: 1)there aren't any, > 2)someone they can't get to sign one of these ludicrous agreements(ie > REDHAT) has a bigger gun ( in some form or another), 3)they could > potentially have to open their code to prove it( which may show how > many patents they are violating, while also showing the world a > crapload of new vulnerabilities > to exploit), 4) any patent violations would be easily rectified or > shown to be obvious. > M$ doesn't even have the balls to attack linux directly anymore, they > hide behind proxies I'd say they are losing their nerve over in > Redmond. In the end only one thing is sure, its gonna interesting. </div></div>On the other hand M$ anounced today it would rellease 3,000 pages of its Vista and Office code to the public. > </blockquote><div> Only the parts that have been around since windows 95 i'll wager. </div></div>