[wplug] Whither Open Source?

[Rob Knapp]

On Fri, 2005-05-13 at 09:35 -0400, Greg Simkins wrote:
> As the author said, it is not clear where it is going, but he did lay out a 
> couple dots about IBM retaliating by purchasing Novelle.  I suppose that 
> would take a lot of wind out of the Open Source sails.  We would be left 
> with the die hards like RMS.

I still fail to see how "that would take a lot of wind out of the Open
Source sails.  We would be left with the die hards like RMS."  Red Hat
and Novell are just companies that market open source software, they are
not the open source movement.  That is the advantage of Free and Open
Source software, there is no single company (or group of companies) that
could be acquired.

What part of your concern am I missing?

> I am sure there are good lawyers, but if this whole chain of events is 
> caused by some legal concern about old patents, I think grave misjustice 
> will be done.  So, on the whole, we have too many lawyers.


Keep in mind this deal is 100% speculation based on someone observing
two execs having dinner again.  There was no hard-facts based on what
they were discussing.

And why MS would be talking to an exec of a single open source company
about a potential violation,( rather that the heads of the project
themselves, along with all the other major open source companies) is
completely beyond me.

While software patents are not good, I think their threat is to open
source software is highly, highly overrated. There are a lot of
companies, government and educational institutions that are dependent on
open source software. I think if there was a serious threat, you would
see a large number of companies and universities stepping forward to
threaten MS with their patents.  IBM, for example, has a huge portfolio
of patents that it has used as a bludgeon in the past.  It has also put
a lot of time and money into Linux/Open Source...they aren't going to
let that investment die because of a single acquisition. There's also a
number of wealthy individuals looking for a test case for software
patents that could.

> 
> I guess I am just not an optimist.
> 
> Greg
> 
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Rob Knapp" <myddrin at myddrin.com>
> To: "General user list" <wplug at wplug.org>
> Sent: Friday, May 13, 2005 9:11 AM
> Subject: Re: [wplug] Whither Open Source?
> 
> 
> > On Fri, 2005-05-13 at 08:59 -0400, Greg Simkins wrote:
> >> Maybe RMS isn't such a lunatic after all.  Microsoft to buy Redhat?:
> >> http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=1369&tag=nl.e539
> >>
> >> Once again, lawyers may be standing in the way of freedom.  Maybe RMS'
> >> approach is only way to keep these guys off your back.
> >
> > I'm not sure how MS buying a single open source company is the end of
> > Open Source... even if Red Hat is gone, all the work they poured into
> > linux is still there for use by any of the plethora of open source
> > companies (Novell, Mandrake, Progeny, just to name a very few).
> >
> > Could you please connect the dots for me?  What am I missing?
> >
> >>
> >> Greg
> >> _______________________________________________
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> > -- 
> > ---
> > Rob "Myddrin" Knapp
> > myddrin at myddrin.com
> > http://www.myddrin.com
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > wplug at wplug.org
> > http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug 
> 
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-- 
---
Rob "Myddrin" Knapp
myddrin at myddrin.com
http://www.myddrin.com