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[News] Red Hat Sort of Tells Mirosoft Where to Shove Its 'Promises'

  • Subject: [News] Red Hat Sort of Tells Mirosoft Where to Shove Its 'Promises'
  • From: Roy Schestowitz <newsgroups@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
  • Date: Fri, 29 Feb 2008 05:24:23 +0000
  • Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy
  • Organization: Netscape / schestowitz.com
  • User-agent: KNode/0.10.4
Red Hat shows the way

,----[ Quote ]
| At times like these, when proprietary software companies and turncoats from 
| within the FOSS sphere are actively engaged in a battle to dominate 
| standards, it is good to have a company like Red Hat on-side.  
| 
| [...]
| 
| But looking at Red Hat's reaction to the recent Microsoft announcement about 
| interoperability, it is easy to see that the North Carolina-based company is 
| not a one-dimensional firm. Few companies would react to a statement from the 
| biggest and most powerful proprietary software company - and one which is 
| actively trying to steal its lunch - with anything resembling these 
| words: "Red Hat regards this most recent announcement with a healthy dose of 
| skepticism (sic)."      
`----

http://www.itwire.com/content/view/16913/1148/

"Microsoft: still a bunch of gangsters."

                        -- Financial Times Writer, reaction to Microsoft 'open' pledge, 2008

http://fussnotes.typepad.com/plexnex/2008/02/wilcox-watch-bu.html


Related:

http://ecis.eu/documents/210208ECISStatement.pdf


Antitrust: Commission takes note of Microsoft's announcement on
interoperability principles

,----[ Quote ]
| The European Commission takes note of today's announcement by Microsoft of 
| its intention to commit to a number of principles in order to promote 
| interoperability with some of its high market share software products. This 
| announcement does not relate to the question of whether or not Microsoft has 
| been complying with EU antitrust rules in this area in the past.     
`----

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=MEMO/08/106&form%20at=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en


Red Hat Statement on Microsoft Announcement

,----[ Quote ]
| Commit to interoperability with open source: Instead of offering a patent 
| license for its protocol information on the basis of licensing arrangements 
| it knows are incompatible with the GPL – the world’s most widely used open 
| source software license – Microsoft should extend its Open Specification 
| Promise to all of the interoperability information that it is announcing 
| today will be made available.     
`----

http://www.press.redhat.com/2008/02/21/red-hat-statement-on-microsoft-announcement/


Freewash, fake beards, and the enclosure of the software commons

,----[ Quote ]
| The 20th February 2008 was one of those 'Microsoft moments', when suddenly, 
| the world changed. Just like when they 'got' the network (and we got NT), or 
| they 'got' the Internet (and we got 'Internet Explorer'). This time 
| they 'got' Open Source and Open Standards and the company is about to make 
| another of their legendary radical transformations... or so they would like 
| you to believe.     
| 
| [...]
| 
| So you can have your 'Open Source' software if you really insist... just so 
| long as you pay a royalty to Microsoft for every copy that gets shipped. It's 
| great if all those 'non-commercial' people want to develop software for 
| Microsoft and their ring-fenced group of 'authorised' 'Open Source' partners. 
| They generously promise that they wont even sue their unpaid workforce.    
`----

http://www.siriusit.co.uk/myblog/freewash-fake-beards-and-the-enclosure-of-the-software-commons.html 


Microsoft Gets Open Source Religion – Or Maybe Not

,----[ Quote ]
| Note, by the way, that Microsoft has effected the marvellous sleight of hand 
| that it – not the OSI, not the Linux Foundation, but *Microsoft* – is setting 
| up an Open Source Interoperability Initiative.  
| 
| In some ways, the most amazing paragraph in the whole announcement is not the 
| protestations of undying love for openness, but the following: 
| 
| "The interoperability principles and actions announced today reflect the 
| changed legal landscape for Microsoft and the IT industry. They are an 
| important step forward for the company in its ongoing efforts to fulfill the 
| responsibilities and obligations outlined in the September 2007 judgment of 
| the European Court of First Instance (CFI)."    
| 
| This is certainly true, as shown by the fact that Microsoft is effectively 
| applying the agreement with the EU to most of its product range... 
`----

http://www.computerworlduk.com/community/blogs/index.cfm?entryid=522&blogid=14


EU regulators cool on Microsoft open-source move

,----[ Quote ]
| But Mark Taylor from the Open Source Consortium said the Microsoft 
| announcement is "smoke and mirrors." 
| 
| "Microsoft is saying it will give access to open APIs, however, but there are 
| terms," said Taylor. "It's the same old story. Patent protection applies, and 
| people can use the APIs commercially as long as they pay Microsoft a royalty. 
| They are trying to enclose open commons by trying to apply their business 
| model, which is all about owning technology, to open source."     
`----

http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_22-6231525.html

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