MS gain FUD if SCO lose [LWN.net]

MS gain FUD if SCO lose

Posted May 20, 2003 15:06 UTC (Tue) by fergal (guest, #602)
In reply to: MS gain FUD if SCO lose by allesfresser
Parent article: The fear war against Linux (News.com)

You miss my point, I'm not talking about an MS tantrum, I'm talking about giving MS ammo to badmouth the GPL. They will say "look at SCO, they lost everything because of the evil, IP destroying GPL. We tried to warn you all to stay clear of it but you didn't listen. So line up over here for your perfectly safe copies of Win XP". As usual this will be lies but in a media war where the truth requires more than 30 seconds to understand and where most of the journalists have already been bought and payed for, truth and lies aren't very relevant.

Two possible ways to argue the case are:

1 - look at the code and prove no code was stolen

2 - we're not even going to look at the code because you released it yourselves under the GPL so even if it was stolen, you gave it to us - haha

If #2 is what wins the case then MS will have a field day telling everybody about the "dangers" of the GPL and opensource. So lets hope we win with #1 instead.

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MS gain FUD if SCO lose

Posted May 20, 2003 16:09 UTC (Tue) by allesfresser (subscriber, #216) [Link]

Yes, it's always better to win honestly (with no "stolen" code) and yes, the GPL wasn't designed to trap people with. (How ironic that MS would try to use the spin that way...) But actually, MS is right in a way... the GPL *was* initially designed to destroy their particular style of "intellectual property"--because they want to distort and twist the laws to their own profit by locking things up behind lawyers rather than making inventions and concepts open for all to use. That is exactly what RMS was trying to prevent by making the GPL--it is deliberately and inherently in conflict with their mindset and way of doing things. So I'm not surprised at all that they don't like it--one doesn't usually like a tack placed on one's chair. The problem for us is that we have to live (at least for now) in a situation where MS can make things unpleasant for those that dare to fall out of line in the sheep pen. And since (as you pointed out) the cards are mostly stacked against us in regards to the press and the US government, it may be very unpleasant for a while. But then again, any war is unpleasant. I myself keep going in this cause because I want my children to be able to have the freedom I grew up with before the greedsters got their hands in everything. Didn't a certain Mr. Jefferson once write, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants."? Nothing great is achieved without struggle, and this seems to be such a time.

MS gain FUD if SCO lose

Posted May 20, 2003 19:54 UTC (Tue) by abclements (guest, #11343) [Link]

Maybe the OpenSouce Community should use MS tatics. Something in the vain of-

Propietary software is bad because it produces incompatiblities...just look at quicktime, realplayer, media player.

Oh wait, that would be the TRUTH. :-)

MS gain FUD if SCO lose

Posted May 21, 2003 15:44 UTC (Wed) by proski (guest, #104) [Link]

Note that most companies are more likely to benefit if #2 wins. Many companies take software under GPL and use it internally. They would be affected if another company sues them for the use of the "stolen" code.

Very few companies would ever be releasing software under the GPL without knowing what they are releasing. And for those who do, WYGIWYD - what you get is what you deserve.