Oracle intersted in buying Ubunutu

[Peter Garrett]

On Thu, 20 Apr 2006 09:32:52 +1000
Alexander Jacob Tsykin <stsykin at gmail.com> wrote:

> I am familiar with the monopoly case. In this, microsoft was at least
> partly a victim of its own success.

*Cough* Excuse me if I don't think success is an excuse for predatory
business practices like those used against Netscape. Excuse me if I don't
think that fabricating videos used under oath in a courtroom is acceptable
behaviour for a "successful" company, or anyone else. I could continue, at
length and in detail, but my post would turn into a small book.

> As for the halloween memorandum, the quotes he isolates seem to say only that 
> OSS is a threat, go figure, and suggest a strategy to combat it. What is so 
> evil about that.

If that was all the Halloween Documents said, perhaps I could agree with
you. Sadly, it isn't.

A few quotes from "Halloween" below, with my comments. 


"Linux's homebase is currently commodity network and server infrastructure.
By folding extended functionality into today's commodity services and
create new protocols, we raise the bar & change the rules of the game. "

Create new protocols - this is something MS love to do. Find a new and
different way of doing things, but make sure it isn't open: thus only MS
product users can use it, and it breaks interoperabity with other systems.

Have you read about Microsoft's version of Java? That was just one blatant
example of "improving" something that was cross-platform, breaking it in
the process. MS are scared to death of anything cross-platform, because it
threatens their domination of the market.


"The effect of patents and copyright in combatting Linux remains to be
investigated. "

Does this seem like a nice way to compete? Or are you an apologist for
software patents?

* Linux can win as long as services / protocols are commodities.

Do you see the pattern here? The whole thrust is to pervert services and
protocols. Protocols are supposed to make it possible for diverse systems
to communicate. MS wants all the plumbing to fit only MS - tough luck if
you want to connect to their non-standard protocol.

Someone works out how to connect to one of these so-called protocols? Oh,
we'll move the goalposts so they have to figure it out again....



Peter


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Linux User #343161