Crazy Microsoft/Red Hat infringement poll...

[maruchan]

From a Slashdot article: (http://slashdot.org/articles/05/07/29/2245227.shtml?tid=109&tid=190) (edit: from a *reply* to the article :))


This isn't a speculative article. It's a quiet attempt by Microsoft to gauge the community's reaction to a possible open source product.

Recently I was paid $10 to take a survey geared towards IT professionals about "current trends within the Software and PC Industry". The questions were clearly written by Microsoft, and one possible plan was obvious:

-Microsoft will compose a list of dozens of software patents allegedly violated by Linux and will offer total indemnification for Red Hat users only. If necessary, it will use its own patent portfolio as leverage.
-Microsoft will strengthen Red Hat's source offerings to emphasize "interoperability", which means that it will be possible to administer a RH install from Windows.
-Microsoft will buy Red Hat for considerably more than it seems to be worth and will immediately cripple it just as it's crippled every other worthy competitor it has bought out.

This is a clever plan to defeat Linux.

(Part of the survey really bugged me because it seemed like a push poll - see here [mit.edu].)

Here's the link: http://www.mit.edu/~mherdeg/pushpoll/

Check out the screenshots. Talk about devious.

[Adrenal]

Ha
Haha
AHAHAHAHAHAH
Aha
aha
a-ha
Ok, I'm done.
Even if Microsoft do buy out RedHat, it won't destroy Linux. Linux belongs to the world already, its an explosion, being shaped by us.
Stop seeing it as a replacement to Windows, and start seeing it as an alternative

[adwait]

:surprise:

[poofyhairguy]

Talk about devious.

Linux has been building for years because of one reason: MS can't buy it. At one point it could have beaten it with patents, but now with Novell and IBM on Linux's side MS will have to beat it in the marketplace (they hate an open marketplace).

They might could find a way to kill it in the U.S., but they will never wipe Linux frm the world.

[gray-squirrel]

I saw the article which sparked all the discussion, and I'm not moved by it one bit. Micro$oft simply does not get it.

And even if they were to buy Red Hat, Novell will still be around. So, how is Gates & Co. going to remove SuSE Linux from the landscape?

I sense something diabolical going on. Micro$oft is not playing honestly. They play lip service to get an upper hand, or at least try to.

This does highlight something else important, though. Software patents. They were rejected by the European Parliament earlier this month. Why is Microsoft able to do what it does? Because here in the U.S., there are software patents. I don't know if we can get rid of them, but we need to start looking at patent law, just like the FSF looked at copyright law and start figuring out how we can use that to our advantage.