For the haters...

[MyNameIsIrony]

This nick will (also) probably be banned after this but I couldn't resist seeding the inevitable "discourse." From the latest blog entry of creative commons founder, Lawrence Lessig:

At 12:30pm, an envelope from Redmond appeared at the Creative Commons office. Inside, a check for $25,000. From Microsoft.

This money was crucial to the furtherance of cc itself.

Enjoy.

[MetalMusicAddict]

Wow. Nice. I wonder the motivation.

LINK (http://www.lessig.org/blog/) to blog.

[23meg]

CC needed to reach a certain amount and diversity of donations to keep their public charity status and the MS donation helped that. Careful: MS donation, not Bill and Melinda Gates donation.

[MetalMusicAddict]

Careful: MS donation, not Bill and Melinda Gates donation.
So what would the difference be?

[23meg]

Microsoft is a company, whereas Bill and Melinda Gates are people. People donating money in their person and a company donating money off its budget are two different things that can have different implications and repercussions.