Rob Hughes wrote:
> BearItAll wrote:
>
>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>
>>> OpenSUSE Q&A on IRC
>>>
>>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>> | Q: Novell claims to have not acknowledged any patent infringements by
>>> | Linux. But Novell is now paying a tax to Microsoft on the Linux
>>> | distributions it ships. What, exactly, is Novell paying for?
>>> |
>>> | Nat Friedman: We're paying for the promise that Microsoft made to our
>>> | customers not to sue them.
>>> |
>>> | Q: Not to sue them for *what*? For problems you don?t acknowledge
>>> | exist?
>>> `----
>>>
>>> http://boycottnovell.com/2006/11/28/opensuse-qa-on-irc/
>>
>> Look Novell, let MS past, it's all very well playing the hero and trying
>> to protect your users, but we're all willing to fight them because we are
>> certain that we haven't infringed any copyright. For goodness sake make
>> this thing public before MS drags you down.
>
> This kind of stuff is more proof that far too many FSF/linux/et. al.
> people just don't understand how businesses look at this sort of stuff. MS
> isn't talking about suing me or you. They're talking about suing Google,
> Daimler-Chrysler, or some other big linux user. I suppose they might also
> follow the RIAA's path of suing a few home users, just to see how many
> that scares into running to windows. But their main interest is going to
> be in suits that will make the cover of the WSJ, Business Week, etc. And
> so while the people least likely to get sued may be willing to fight, most
> businesses aren't. And this deal will be seen by most businesses as
> reducing their exposure to such nuisance law suits. And that's because to
> most businesses, operating systems are just tools to help them make money.
> I don't see that they give a fig about RMS' grand vision.
>
> The bottom line is that just because Novell says the problems don't exist
> in no way precludes MS from suing Novell's users. And that's what this
> agreement is designed to stop, as bad as the fallout from the agreement is
> for the larger community.
>
I am just as willing to fight Googles corner as my own. We can't stand by
and let any linux user/supporter get bashed, because that lessens Linux's
hold.
We are not stealing and have not stolen anything by using Linux, neither has
google.
MS didn't invent toolbars or buttons or any other thing. Those things were
all developed by many people over many years, individuals and businesses. A
nice bit of code in a magazine here, some mate at the tech club sharing
some snippet, Mac, in fact you could say that nextstep invented the whole
of the windows shell because the same controls are the very controls that
MS still use today in XP, gnome (closer relative of nextstep), kde and all
of the others that use the main basic controls. And yes, blowing my own
trumpet, I claim some of that be cause my code was being passed around and
shared as much as anyone elses, particularly in the comms and database
areas.
Even the controls that are used in html are really just the same controls as
on nextstep.
MS has no more right to them than if I claimed ownership of the alphabet
because I found that no one else has claimed it yet.
That is what You need to understand, that these patents are wrong, all of
the rest of the world knows that, it is only America that is allowing
people to claim ownership of what does not belong to them. They did not
create it, had no part in its development and subsequent use, in most cases
it wasn't even created in America by and American, but they claim it and
the US courts allow them to. It is just plain stealing.
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