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[News] The Big Difference Between Sun and Microsoft

The Engadget Mobile Interview: Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun

,----[ Quote ]
| Unlike Microsoft and others, we actually view the success of the free 
| software as a good thing, we are enormously pro-GPL, enormously pro free 
| software, enormously pro the Mozilla license, the BSD license.  
`----

http://www.engadgetmobile.com/2008/05/02/the-engadget-mobile-interview-jonathan-schwartz-ceo-of-sun/


Recent (a week or so ago):

Bill Gates’ Disdain for Open Source Even in Retirement

,----[ Quote ]
| Without compromise there is no progress. In the software world Gates was the 
| Godfather he didn’t need to work with anyone until the Justice Department 
| ruled against him. Even as the richest man in the world he’s got to work 
| together with researchers and others if he wants to be successful. Too bad he 
| didn’t learn anything about open source’s collaborative values it might have 
| served him well as he tries to help cure disease and improve world health 
| standards.      
| 
| I have to wonder if he will be able to make the transition from dictator to 
| do-gooder or if he will just write checks? 
`----

http://socializedsoftware.com/2008/04/24/bill-gates-disdain-for-open-source-even-in-retirement/


Bill Gates, which we disagree with

,----[ Quote ]
| As but one more piece of testamentary evidence that the old guard at 
| Microsoft needs to be shown the door, Bill Gates has demonstrated 
| conclusively that he has exactly zero understanding of open source, or at 
| least zero desire to have an intelligent discussion about it.    
| 
| [...]
| 
| Open source insists upon leaving software open to further improvement. And if 
| you were to read the European Union's report on open source, you'd see that 
| it's actually a massive opportunity for improved GDP growth.  
| 
| What open source does is ensure that customers share equally in the economic 
| benefits of software, rather than having profits hoarded by one company 
| (i.e., Microsoft's model). The GPL does this perhaps best of all. In another 
| age, Mr. Gates would have found the GPL to be a dear friend to his better 
| capitalist instincts. It's actually a close cousin to a proprietary license 
| in some ways, except that it protects through openness, not closed source.     
`----

http://www.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9927661-16.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=TheOpenRoad


Bill Gates Claims Open Source Means Nobody Can Improve Software

,----[ Quote ]
| His complaint is that open source creates a license "so that nobody can ever 
| improve the software." It's hard to figure out how to respond to that 
| statement since it's the exact opposite of how open source software works. 
| The exact point is that anyone can improve the software. It's proprietary 
| software like Microsoft's that's limited such that only Microsoft is allowed 
| to improve it. It's no secret that Gates isn't a fan of open source software, 
| but it still seems odd that he would make a statement that is so obviously 
| false, both in theory and in practice. Perhaps old FUD habits die hard, but 
| one would hope that as he enters "retirement" he'll have a more open mind on 
| such things.         
`----

http://techdirt.com/articles/20080423/004519925.shtml


Bill Gates on Pharmaceuticals: The System Isn't Working

,----[ Quote ] 
| One thing Gates won't be leaving behind in retirement is his distaste for 
| open source software. After one scientist asked if Gates would consider open 
| source uses in health research, the man who built his $280 billion company on 
| the power of intellectual property bristled.   
| 
| "There's free software and then there’s open source," he suggested, noting 
| that Microsoft gives away its software in developing countries. With open 
| source software, on the other hand, "there is this thing called the GPL, 
| which we disagree with."   
| 
| Open source, he said, creates a license "so that nobody can ever improve the 
| software," he claimed, bemoaning the squandered opportunity for jobs and 
| business. (Yes, Linux fans, we're aware of how distorted this definition is.) 
| He went back to the analogy of pharmaceuticals: "I think if you invent drugs, 
| you should be able to charge for them," he said, adding with a shrug: "That 
| may seem radical."     
`----

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/04/bill-gates-what.html

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