our newest Ally ...Microsoft?

[eraker]

I read that computerworld piece too, and it frustrated me a little. There was the point in there, though, about how Microsoft's costumers and shareholders might not be too happy about them engaging in an unwinnable and protracted legal battle.

[minthaka]

I think this agreement is very clean:
1. Novell entered into the world of Linux ( who knows, today the wolves are wearing sheeps clothes ?) a year or two ago.
2. Microsoft enters into the playground. Its goal is simple: wipe away the open source world. (Maybe even MS hid himself behind Novell)
3. The attack against distros.

Windows is facing great problems. The open source applications are day by day better. For example the GIMP approaches the Adobe Photoshop. The latter cannot develop newer and newer features, thats fact. Who will buy their products? And OpenOffice is already better then MS Office. The Vista has been promised for 2005, and now at the end of 2006, we still wait for the stable release. I think that maybe the Vista is the last MS OS. Microsoft seems to me to be a dying world.
Maybe all my words are sounding like a conspiracy theory, but who knows for sure?
minthaka
(SUSE 10.0)

[easuter]

Microsoft seems to me to be a dying world.

Like a Super-Red-Giant start becomes to big and collapses under its own weight...into a black dwarf....yeah....

[burntfuse]

I don't think Microsoft can prove any sort of infringement by "Linux" of its intellectual property. But it doesn't matter. Just the threat of Microsoft bringing lawsuits will be enough for many in business that already use Linux into switching their servers over to SuSE/Novell for the seeming legal protection Ballmer has already said would be a part of their deal. If Microsoft does bring lawsuits against Red Hat, Oracle and the many distros, that will create a stampede over to SuSE by businesses who value that protection, knowing they can continue to use Linux and receive unhindered and legal support. Through years of endless legal challenges, Microsoft could then financially drain all the remainders without much effort. In the end, it won't matter if the other distros win in court because they will all be bankrupt. That leaves most of the businesses who use or want to use Linux largely in Novell's coral. If that happens, the Novell/Microsoft deal will then enable Microsoft to more easily control or destroy Linux as a rival in the server/business arena.

Unfortunately, I can see that happening. Just look at SCO, which has been able to file all these lawsuits and keep them going for years despite no proof or intelligence or anything. It should be obvious to even non-technical people that they're just trying to kill Linux and get some money out of it.

I also sort of agree with minthaka, though. It seems like lately, they haven't been able to stand the idea of any other company becoming successful in anything computer-related, and think that they have to be the best in everything (like that annoying kid in elementary school who always had to be at the front of every line). Just look at Zune (iPod ripoff), MSN search (official position is that they're trying to replace Google), MSN in general, the antivirus and antispyware stuff with Vista, etc. I even heard that they're working on a Photoshop replacement. I definitely don't think they're going to collapse any time soon, but they'll have to change *something*, and maybe just focus more on their software.

EDIT: From one of the comment in one of the articles:

Can FSF sue for defamation? Here the free software community is explicitly being accused of doing something illegal, without any evidence or explanation whatsoever...

You know, that's really not a bad idea. While I think most lawsuits now are inane and pointless, this might be one worth pursuing.

[Dapper Dan]

It appears Ballmer is indeed stepping up his saber rattling...
Link

[carlosponti]

that article proves that Balmer doesnt have a clue. in the article they mentioned mono. but mono isnt part of linux you dont even have it installed by default. i think that balmer believes that linux is the whole package and not just the kernel. i dont think they even know how linux is organized.

[burntfuse]

I don't think Ballmer ever said that Mono was infringing, though, that was just total speculation by the author (which is pretty stupid, since they seem to think that some stuff could be violating patents just because it works together with MS products or uses MS standards).

[carlosponti]

i think the speculation was to show that Balmer doesn't know the difference between Linux and the distribution. Which Microsoft is going to be chasing its tail if they think they will go after certain distros because of what packages are distributed because they can always drop that software from the distribution.

[easuter]

He was talking like a mobster there.
Kind of implying that we have to pay "protection money".

LOL!

[burntfuse]

carlosponti: That's true, I didn't think of that.

Yeah, he was definitely talking about "protection money". Not surprised, the SCOsource program was just outright extortion, and no one in the courts seemed to think it was illegal...