Microsoft Fracturing the Open-Source Community

TechGeek sends us to eWeek, where Mark Shuttleworth is quoted to the effect that Microsoft has succeeded in fracturing the Linux and open-source community with its patent indemnity agreements. Quoting: "Microsoft's strategy was to drive a wedge into the open-source community and unsettle the marketplace, Shuttleworth said. He also took issue with the Redmond, Wash., software maker for not disclosing the 235 of its patents it claims are being violated by Linux and other open-source software. 'That's extortion and we should call it what it is,' he said." Shuttleworth added, "I don't think this will end well for the companies that slipped up and went down that road."

"Succeeded"?

[phliar]

From the article:

...what Microsoft is doing is trying to unsettle the marketplace. It isn't working and has not had the slightest impact on those companies that refuse to be drawn into that line of discussion with Microsoft.

Seems to me Shuttleworth is saying the exact opposite of what this Slashdot editor thinks.

Re:Thank you, Mr. Shuttleworth!

[LinuxGeek]

Is it really extortion when the extorter pays off the extortee?

Actually, it is best called Danegeld [wikipedia.org]. It rarely works out well for the target.

Re:Im not fractured

[TheRaven64]

Linux, Apache, PostgreSQL, and PHP also among the list of projects not using GPLv3 that could be considered 'core.'

Re:The cat is already out of the bag

[baggins2001]

It's not just that the code is available to the group using it. It's also that the code is out there and if XYZ quits working or supporting it maybe someone else will.
My CEO was shocked when I told him that the accounting software was no longer supported by the original company. But we found some guys who used to work for the company and they'll come here and help us fix the problem. You just have to pay airfare, lodging and $200/hr.

Re:cowards

[smist08]

Linspire is already un-ravelling. Saw the announcement just today that the CEO Carmody "resigned". I guess we can all speculate why he was "resigned", but it seems pretty clear.

Re:The Blame is Not MS

[nmos]

GPL2 was fine, the lessers are fine. But, brow beating projects into GPL3 is going to make the community rebel, and these people are all about rebellion.

What exactly is wrong with the GPL3 and what makes you think anyone is "brow beating" anyone else into using it?

There are always going a few people who thrive on argument and chaos but most of the people actually involved in the creation of the GPL3 have been pretty civil IMHO and I think that even includes RMS. Just look at how much the GPL3 has improved since the first draft based on input from just about anyone who cared enough to speak up.

Re:No surprise, but it won't work

[DMUTPeregrine]

The only way they can combat people switching Linux to other hardware is to be better supported than any other hardware.

Pedantry begets pedantry

[The Monster]

Welcome to capitolism.

Where everybody is forced to live in the city containing the main government buildings.

And not just anywhere in the capital city, but either inside those buildings or on the land between them.

Re:Much ado about nothing

[bealzabobs_youruncle]

I'll assume you haven't tried Apt or Yum (which has gotten better in the last year but still isn't Apt), or that rm -Rf seems hard to you.

Additionally, that simplicity you mention in Windows is a facade at best; the registry is a swamp and DLL-hell isn't completely eliminated yet. Yes, dependencies suck, but in general you get list of what files you are missing and with a little work you are in business. And thanks to the massive amounts of work Ubuntu and Fedora have put in, dep-hell ain't what it used to be. Yes, installation has a long way to go for less skilled users, but it still isn't enough of a reason to cede the market permanently to MS.

Re:The Blame is Not MS

[bl8n8r]

> We should be grateful that the only major player to take the Microsoft pill was Novell

Lets not forget Linspire and Xandros. No, not major, but let's give credit it's due.

installing programs in Linux

[falconwolf]

Actually, the only thing holding me back from switching to Linux completely is the horrible and useless installation of new apps. Why can't Linux work like Windows - download a setup file, run it and it's there....

Ah but you can install software in Linux by just downloading and running it. I don't really know much about Linux but I know there's apt-get and rpm among others. And Linspire has CNR [linspire.com] for Linspire Linux and they are porting it for other Linux distros [cnr.com]. CNR allow you to select those programs you want then click a button to install them all. Uninstalling just another click.

if you don't like it, you choose "Uninstall".

Haha, I've uninstalled a lot of programs in Windows and they almost always leave junk, especially in the registry which can make it unstable. I've even had to manually uninstall software because there wasn't an uninstall and Windows Add/Remove couldn't uninstall.

I descended into dependency hell

And Windows doesn't, didn't, have DLL hell [wikipedia.org]?

Falcon