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Re: [News] Microsoft Gives Up Software Patent Fights on Web

__/ [ Mark Kent ] on Wednesday 13 September 2006 21:57 \__

> begin  oe_protect.scr
> Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> espoused:
>> Microsoft Promises Not to Sue
>> 
>> ,----[ Quote ]
>>| Microsoft's relationship with the open-source community has been
>>| strained, at times. In 2001, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer famously
>>| described Linux as a "cancer that attaches itself in an intellectual
>>| property sense to everything it touches."
>> `----
>> 
>>
http://www.redherring.com/Article.aspx?a=18525&hed=Microsoft+Promises+Not+to+Sue&sector=Industries&subsector=Computing
>> 
>> That's another victory for Linux/OSS. With SCO and patents largely down,
>> there will be less reluctance in adoption.
> 
> Well, I remain sceptical about anything MS announce - what's to stop
> them changing their minds later and cashing in?  This is precisely their
> approach to copyright violation (piracy, in MS-speak).  I'd need
> something far more solid than a few words on a web-page which can
> disappear tomorrow.

Ballmer threatened to use IP as a weapon. It was less than 6 months ago. And
since Microsoft has broken the Twelve Tenets several time since it raved
about them, it's just a matter reminiscent of an ex-con returning to routine
when s/he feels pressured. This could be a PR stunt. And MS is all about PR
and marketing, which is the rational behind this grossly void Twelve Tenets.
Didn't take them even a week to break those...

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