13 Reasons To Celebrate the New MS-Novell Pact 40
An anonymous reader writes "The recently announced agreement between Microsoft Corporation and Novell, Inc. has resulted in much concern that it could be harmful for Linux and other free software. However, the agreement itself, as well as its timing and comments made by Microsoft executives about it, may actually be a very good thing — and perhaps even worthy of celebration!"
In FUD times we live (Score:2, Insightful)
A Test Of The Maturity Of The Open Source World (Score:5, Insightful)
There are three distinct reactions to Microsoft's blatant and utterly un-subtle attack on Linux:
1) Swift and decisive public action sending a clear message to the computing and business worlds that this aggression will not stand, man. Novell software and patent minefields like mono are purged from all open source distros and entities.
2) Wallowing in ignorant self-delusion that maybe it will all go away.
3) Self-defeating and inane +5 Insightful masturbatory posts letting everyone know just what a open minded and reasonable person you are for trying to look on the bright side of this frontal assault on Linux. "Hey, Microsoft can't be ALWAYS evil...maybe they just want to be friends!"
Read groklaw.net, get informed. If you aren't scared to hell about the long term implications of this attack on Linux through patents, you haven't read enough about it.
The time for sticking your head in the sand is over. Microsoft is in open war with Linux. And no matter what you think of their products, Microsoft execs live to destroy. And they have you directly in their sights. Are you going to stand there and be slaughtered like a dumb animal or wake up and get informed and take decisive action?
Software patents are dead! (Score:3, Insightful)
In the 1800s they had a law in England that forced every self-propelled vehicle on the road to have a horseman precede it waving a red flag. Many historians argue that this law had a strong effect in delaying the invention of automobiles. I don't think so. The automobile was invented as soon as a suitable engine was developed. The boilers and steam engines of the mid-1800s were practical only for locomotives, they were too heavy to use without steel rails. As soon as lightweight engines were available, the red-flag law was rescinded.
I think software patents are just trying to delay the inevitable, the old-style software business is dead. Free software is what Clayton Christensen called a "disruptive innovation". It will kill the old business model because the old model is stuck in a corner from which it cannot evolve. The most they can do to delay the inevitable end is to outsource development to some less-developed countries where programmers get lower wages, but that is a self-limiting process.
In the end, free source will prevail because it uses the power of the internet, where people from the whole world can participate in a project. Intellectual property is a two-edged sword: it allows companies to derive higher profits by charging royalties from every user, but at the same time every user must pay again for a development that has already been paid for. In the end, a free market will always favor the one who has lower costs.