[wplug] Whither Open Source?

[Greg Simkins]

Thanks Rob for the comforting words.  I do tend to panic a bit over such 
headlines.

I am primarily a user of Microsoft products and have a high regard for 
Microsoft as a company, however I do have an interest in the progress of 
open source.  I am very glad to see a viable competitor to Microsoft.  Open 
source is not only viable, it is a completely different business model - and 
I find that fascinating.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rob Knapp" <myddrin at myddrin.com>
To: <wplug at wplug.org>
Sent: Friday, May 13, 2005 9:51 AM
Subject: Re: [wplug] Whither Open Source?


> 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
>> >> _______________________________________________
>> >> wplug mailing list
>> >> wplug at wplug.org
>> >> http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug
>> > -- 
>> > ---
>> > Rob "Myddrin" Knapp
>> > myddrin at myddrin.com
>> > http://www.myddrin.com
>> >
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > wplug mailing list
>> > wplug at wplug.org
>> > http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> wplug mailing list
>> wplug at wplug.org
>> http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug
> -- 
> ---
> Rob "Myddrin" Knapp
> myddrin at myddrin.com
> http://www.myddrin.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> wplug mailing list
> wplug at wplug.org
> http://www.wplug.org/mailman/listinfo/wplug