Sue ME first, Microsoft!

[Jenda]

Digg: http://digg.com/software/Sue_me_first_Microsoft

How's about that? :)
Challenging Microsoft to sue us for the patents we are so blatantly infringing. Hell, we've been infringing the 'sudo patent' even before it existed!

[starcraft.man]

Hehe, that was a good read. I like it :D

The funniest bit I think will be the gplv3 clause if MS gets smacked with its pants down they will void their own arguments and we can go on without worry :p

I'll be sure to sign up and write a nice message right at MS to go with it. A little later though, I'm in the middle of a few things now. We should all sign up though, this is just a great idea. We need to show solidarity.

[Tanoku]

Just signed up. Nice idea indeed.

[Iarwain ben-adar]

Signed


Iarwain

[Jenda]

Wow, three new people since I posted it :)

[starcraft.man]

Wow, three new people since I posted it :)

LOL, just wait till the rest of the forum gets wind (theres certainly more than 3 active forum members :p)... this is just great. We must get everyone we know to sign this, forum member or not :).

Maybe this even deserves a sticky so we can get it lots of support? Just a thought... if not, we must keep it bumped.

[Tundro Walker]

Sure. MS can sue me for using Linux and infringing on their patents....

Just as soon as they pay me the $15M I've lost due to Windows / MS Office crashing, and losing hours upon hours of very critical data, work, etc, which I had to then re-create (and lost again in some cases).

Now, granted, that $15M is just a rough estimate. But, I figure if MS can hide what patents are being infringed, I can hide the exact count of everything Microsoft Software has cost me in lost work and wages.

Of course, there is that pesky, little EULA, though. Odd how I can't hold them accountable for things I deem are bad, but they can hold me accountable for things they deem are bad.

[Jenda]

Unfortunately, you either agreed to those terms, or you violated their so-called rights, or you didn't use their products :(

[Lucifiel]

Hmmm... I wonder if my government has strong ties to Microsoft and if I'd get sued or harrassed for signing this. *goes to check*

[.t.]

I'd be worried if you weren't allowed to sign it... Very worried.

[Lucifiel]

I'd be worried if you weren't allowed to sign it... Very worried.

Well, my government is authoritarian, and hence, likes to resist change(homosexuality is still seen as a lifestyle and thus, it's still illegal and likely condemned to lifelong harrassment and jail). And in line with its' behaviour, it thus likes to maintain links with monopolies like Microsoft, etc.

And not being allowed to sign this, has no effect on my daily life, you know? Well, unless I actually get involved in political activism which would be... many years away? :p

[starcraft.man]

This thread deserves a bump, we need more signatures :).

Oh and hi there Lucifel, haven't seen you in a while... and what happened to the cute dog and the girl? I like aliens though, they can be fun :D.

[Lucifiel]

This thread deserves a bump, we need more signatures :).

Oh and hi there Lucifel, haven't seen you in a while... and what happened to the cute dog and the girl? I like aliens though, they can be fun :D.

Huh? I'm not Lucifel from Freenode. :p I'm Hidan on Freenode.

Yeah, I wanted an avatar change. Hmmm...

[starcraft.man]

Huh? I'm not Lucifel from Freenode. :p I'm Hidan on Freenode.

LOL well make up your mind, you called yourself Lucifel on the forums, since this isn't IRC I went with that :p

I could have gone with"alien with tentacles and a pink bow tie" if thats what you want :D


Yeah, I wanted an avatar change. Hmmm...

Hmmm? Second thoughts? How about Nova (http://www.skoar.com/images/6star3.jpg), she is cool and starcraft ghost will come out EVENTUALLY!!! (took ten years for Starcraft 2 :))

[macogw]

Hehe, that was a good read. I like it :D

The funniest bit I think will be the gplv3 clause if MS gets smacked with its pants down they will void their own arguments and we can go on without worry :p

I'll be sure to sign up and write a nice message right at MS to go with it. A little later though, I'm in the middle of a few things now. We should all sign up though, this is just a great idea. We need to show solidarity.

Brunellus is a law student. I asked him about that yesterday. He said the FSF and Moglen are going for a long stretch. The coupons MS is distributing aren't software. They're not the only way to get SLED (you can still get it from Novell), so they aren't "equivalent." MS isn't distributing Linux, and Novell SLED won't be GPLv3 for a while (until the GNU tools are released in a "v3 only" or "v3 or later" way). MS is pretty much in the clear on this.

[blastus]

Microsoft better be prepared to die in a worldwide patent Armageddon. :popcorn:

[Jenda]

macogw, I disagree with Brunellus, and I'm also a law student - but more importantly, Eben is a lawyer, and has probably paid it more attention... and even more importantly, I have to run off to study in order to continue being a law student ;) I'll get back to this after teh examzorz.

[STREETURCHINE]

okay i put my name on the list:p

[mrweekender]

Come on folks get behind this and show Micro$oft we aint goin down without a fight YEAH!

http://digitaltippingpoint.com/wiki/index.php?title=Sue_me_first%2C_Microsoft

[Death_Sargent]

Yeah i signed that im number 835 on page 7

[mrweekender]

Yeah i signed that im number 835 on page 7

Nice one - the more the merrier me thinks!

[forrestcupp]

So what would you do if they actually did sue you personally? Pay some cheap lawyer to stand up to a corporate giant? It's not out of the realm of possibility. Don't you remember when the record companies went after children and elderly individuals for downloading copyrighted music? Everyone thought the music ordeal was just fear tactics until they actually made examples out of people.

[Paul820]

Microsoft have to prove that we are all violating patents to do that. Something they won't prove, I signed it aswell.

[dca]

You're the end user (customer), MS suing you would never ever ever ever happen. Well, unless you're using a pirated copy of Vista and maybe selling it to the Russian schools on eBay or something?

[mrweekender]

Ok lets all take our Linux off our PC's then, erm.... I don't think so - come on mate show some back bone and stand up for Linux.

And I quote from entry 486

# Jon Burger, Florida. MCSE - You can no longer sue me - I have updated my OS to remove all 253 microsoft patented features such as the blue screen of death, the simple buffer overflow feature, the root kit vunerability service, the DCOM hole including the "blaster feature", the zero day vulnerabilty service and of course the innovative zombie feature . Thank you - My linux workstations are now "Microsoft Patent Free"

[Iarwain ben-adar]

Jenda posted this a while ago ;)

Btw, i'm number 20 ^^


Iarwain

[Jenda]

The URL speaks for it self:

http://digg.com/software/Sue_me_first_Microsoft_1000_signatures_within_a_we ek_of_being_Dugg


Bah, I'll say it anyway... we broke 1000!!!

[iAlta]

So what would you do if they actually did sue you personally? Pay some cheap lawyer to stand up to a corporate giant? It's not out of the realm of possibility. Don't you remember when the record companies went after children and elderly individuals for downloading copyrighted music? Everyone thought the music ordeal was just fear tactics until they actually made examples out of people.

Why do you think we have Unions?

Corporate Giant v A Simgle Person
Corporate Giant wins!

Corporate Giant v 1000+ Peaple
Now that's something else...-

[forrestcupp]

Ok lets all take our Linux off our PC's then, erm.... I don't think so - come on mate show some back bone and stand up for Linux.



Give me a break. If I don't want to get sued, it means I don't care about Linux? It's my operating system, not my life. My family comes before my OS.


Why do you think we have Unions?

Corporate Giant v A Simgle Person
Corporate Giant wins!

Corporate Giant v 1000+ Peaple
Now that's something else...-

Yeah, and there were thousands of people downloading illegal mp3's, too. But only a few individuals were made an example out of. It's like Russian Roulette. I had a friend that was pulled over by a police officer for speeding. He said, "yeah, but those other guys were driving faster than me." The officer said, "yeah, but I pulled you over."

I just don't think you should ask to be sued, if you aren't truly willing to be sued. That's ridiculous.

[starcraft.man]

I just don't think you should ask to be sued, if you aren't truly willing to be sued. That's ridiculous.

The point isn't really to be sued (even if it says so in the name), its to show solidarity. Like when people have banded against any other form of oppression/prejudice to overcome it, the point is to make MS aware that there are people who aren't afraid of them. Besides, MS gets enough press, they don't have the time nor do they want the bad publicity for suing people individually (only the RIAA has enough time to sue individual torrent users), they'd alienate their users to no end and likely be demolished by some probono high profile guy who had enough of their stupidity.

This reminds me of a recent decision in our city, our mayor decided to rename one of our longest standing streets to the name of a politician, just to look good. It was a horrible idea, and he was intent on pushing it through until a massive 100,000 person digital petition was signed with names and addresses and the family of the politician even spoke against it. Then he backed off. Solidarity is the only means of getting through to large entities like the government and companies like MS. Otherwise they feel they have carte blanche to do what they want.

Anyway, I wouldn't be worried about being sued, it won't happen, MS has so many other things to worry about before and larger richer companies. The bottom line is suing you would just bankrupt you, MS wants to spread FUD about Linux so they scare the companies that do use it to give them licence fees for their patents. They aren't stupid enough to sue anyway, in the end their FUD will stop and they will leave OSS alone because we are bigger then them as a whole.

[forrestcupp]

The point isn't really to be sued (even if it says so in the name), its to show solidarity. Like when people have banded against any other form of oppression/prejudice to overcome it, the point is to make MS aware that there are people who aren't afraid of them. Besides, MS gets enough press, they don't have the time nor do they want the bad publicity for suing people individually (only the RIAA has enough time to sue individual torrent users), they'd alienate their users to no end and likely be demolished by some probono high profile guy who had enough of their stupidity.

This reminds me of a recent decision in our city, our mayor decided to rename one of our longest standing streets to the name of a politician, just to look good. It was a horrible idea, and he was intent on pushing it through until a massive 100,000 person digital petition was signed with names and addresses and the family of the politician even spoke against it. Then he backed off. Solidarity is the only means of getting through to large entities like the government and companies like MS. Otherwise they feel they have carte blanche to do what they want.

Anyway, I wouldn't be worried about being sued, it won't happen, MS has so many other things to worry about before and larger richer companies. The bottom line is suing you would just bankrupt you, MS wants to spread FUD about Linux so they scare the companies that do use it to give them licence fees for their patents. They aren't stupid enough to sue anyway, in the end their FUD will stop and they will leave OSS alone because we are bigger then them as a whole.

I know they probably won't sue individuals, but probably is not the same as absolutely. All that could happen is that I would be bankrupt. But if it actually did happen, what do you think my Windows-using wife and 3 year old little boy would have to say when we're moving out of our house because I asked to be sued on behalf of an operating system?

Microsoft has all the time, resources, and manpower in the world to do whatever they want. The FUD probably will not stop, and we are not anywhere near close to being bigger than them as a whole, even if every Linux user in the world signed this thing.

There are better ways of showing solidarity than asking someone to sue me. I am not willing to be sued, so I will not ask them to sue me. If there is a different way to show my support, I will be more willing to look into it.

[forrestcupp]

I just want to say that I don't want to be critical of people who want to sign this thing. If you have signed it, or are inclined to, more power to ya. I agree with the heart of what is being said, and there are some very interesting points.

I still decline to put my name on there, but it is at least worth a read.

[Jenda]

Oh come on, they won't sue :)

They won't sue because they couldn't win - we have done nothing wrong. Not by making Linux, not by using it.

Even if I was American, which I ain't, I seriously doubt MS has any patents valid there that Linux it self would infringe. Just have a look at the 'sudo' patent - as soon as they would bring it up, it would have to be declared invalid due to 'prior art'.
Besides, I'm not American, and the software patents aren't valid here, in the EU ;)

[starcraft.man]

Microsoft has all the time, resources, and manpower in the world to do whatever they want. The FUD probably will not stop, and we are not anywhere near close to being bigger than them as a whole, even if every Linux user in the world signed this thing.



I think I'd beg to differ. Linux is bigger than you may ever realize. It is in your PVR/DVR/Tivo, it is running DVD/HD DVD players. It is installed in your computer desktop/home server. It runs Google's servers (they have thousands, if not tens of thousands), that means everytime you search on google ur using linux. It equally runs many top IT companies/websites servers with Apache. It is used on some game platforms. It even comes on cell phones, when not using windows mobile obviously. They are even thinking of putting linux in your car... (http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS9503669349.html)

And in addition to that, there is of course the OIN. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Invention_Network)

So, yes, I think the corporate assets of all those that use linux is greater than MS (MS only had 44.3 Bilion net worth in 2006). The combined of the OIN, major industries and Google alone would prolly crush them. That is of course if MS was stupid enough to sue one of them (and indirectly threaten the rest with lawsuits).

In the end though, its really a stalemate, if MS begins a suit (like SCO) they will find themselves on the receiving end of numerous others (counter suits likely), and we will be in a M.A.D. situation (Mutually Assured Destruction). It's like a digital cold war really. MS is using the same kind of propaganda tactics (all we are missing is the inquisition from sentator McCarthy).

That said, you do what you feel is right. You do have better odds (IMO) of being hit by lightning than MS finding that list of people and picking you to sue, and actually suing you for years to bankrupt you and make 0 dollars on it. Just wanted to correct you thinking Linux was small, most people just don't realize how prevalent linux use is...

[reyfer]

I think I'd beg to differ. Linux is bigger than you may ever realize. It is in your PVR/DVR/Tivo, it is running DVD/HD DVD players. It is installed in your computer desktop/home server. It runs Google's servers (they have thousands, if not tens of thousands), that means everytime you search on google ur using linux. It equally runs many top IT companies/websites servers with Apache. It is used on some game platforms. It even comes on cell phones, when not using windows mobile obviously. They are even thinking of putting linux in your car... (http://www.linuxdevices.com/news/NS9503669349.html)

And in addition to that, there is of course the OIN. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_Invention_Network)


You forgot this: of the Top 500 Supercomputers in the world, 376 (that's 75,2%) run on Linux
http://www.top500.org/stats/28/osfam/

[starcraft.man]

You forgot this: of the Top 500 Supercomputers in the world, 376 (that's 75,2%) run on Linux
http://www.top500.org/stats/28/osfam/

Hehe, supercomputers are nice but aren't they all run mostly by Universities? And last time I checked Uni's don't have billions in assets to defend Linux >.>. I was aiming to mention industries with cash/assets and interest in preserving their right to Linux. Thanks for bringing it up, guess can't hurt.

However, maybe if we took remote control (through some magical means :p) of all those 376 supercomputer linux machines we could use their combined processing power to compute the solution to one of life's most troubling mysteries...

"What is Steve Balmer smoking/on?"

:D

[smoker]

"What is Steve Balmer smoking/on?"
:D

maybe too much of this!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LSD

:-) :-) :-)

[starcraft.man]

maybe too much of this!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LSD

:-) :-) :-)

Hey.... you can't answer the question, we are supposed to compute it with supercomputers... unless.... OMG!!! WE HAVE A SENTIENT SUPERCOMPUTER!!!!!! *runs around panicking that the world is going to come to and end, hops out his window and jumps in the bunker, rocks himself in a chair until the end of days comes*

[smoker]

Hey.... you can't answer the question, we are supposed to compute it with supercomputers... unless.... OMG!!! WE HAVE A SENTIENT SUPERCOMPUTER!!!!!! *runs around panicking that the world is going to come to and end, hops out his window and jumps in the bunker, rocks himself in a chair until the end of days comes*

Hme, i only said 'maybe' and anyway, balmer only thinks he's god, and his shrink wants him committed (through a security hole in vista i accessed his medical records!). so relax, in the new world order, everything is as before, cept windows is in deep decline!:D:D:D

[Andrewie]

I already posted this but I think it works here to



We keep beating this dead horse but it decomposed long time ago, the continuing articles and web sites are making it increasingly evident that people are scared of the Microsoft "FUD". If [we] the Linux users, thought Microsoft was really spreading FUD then we would just ignore them and continue on with our life. I think we should treat Microsoft's FUD like we treat other FUD, just ignore it and continue on with our life.

[starcraft.man]

I already posted this but I think it works here to

Unfortunately, ignoring problems usually doesn't get them solved. If we remain silent, then MS gets to spread its FUD and no other voice is heard denouncing them. If I was the average user, I would then assume that MS was right since none of the OSS or Linux users were saying anything. I don't really think any of the worlds problems have ever been fixed by being left alone...women's rights for instance, had they ignored the problem of being labelled property by the law and not given the vote, they'd still be such. Just an example. Your entitled to think what you like though, as do I.

Anyway, on a similar related note. This site was featured on CommandN. (http://commandn.typepad.com/) Go Amber Macarthur :D. It's around the middle of the Netcast.