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Microsoft Tech Specs Prohibit GPL Implementations
abartlet writes "As described in this Advogato entry, MS is trying to pull a swifty with their latest 'release' of their CIFS (the networked filesystem Samba implements) Technical Reference. The licence specifically prohibits any GPLed or (or LGPLed) program from implementing it, defining it as an 'IPR Impairing Licence'! Fortunately the CIFS community is about to release its own Technical Reference based on earlier MS documents and long experience in attempting to interoperate with the MS product." Microsoft's claim is completely ungrounded - nothing written by a third-party can take away Microsoft's intellectual property rights. But it makes a good (read: confusing to the general public) justification for preventing others from interoperating with their software.
Sure, he may be trying to make it so that Linux won't interoperate with Windows, but maybe he's just trying to get revenge for being tricked?
libertarianswag.com
APL BPL CPL DPL EPL FPL GPL HPL IPL
Why not use every letter in the alphabet? It's only fitting, I guess, since there are a million ways to write code, why not have a million ways to license it?
I remember taking programming classes in college, and the #1 rule to writing code was don't write code, i.e., reuse existing code. With all these licensing schemes floating around, that's getting harder and harder, unles you only reuse your own code. Oh well...
(For the record, IPR sounds more like an Apple licenesing idea, what with the iMac, iPod, and tons of iSoftware.)
At least today's Friday...
-Space for rent
Using GPL
Will encroach upon our rights
To control the world
any license can say anything it wants to
That's right...heck, I'm licensed to ill...
At the top of the license page there is an option to "Rate this page" The score is from 1 to 5. Right now its at 1.5 with 230 votes and growing.
I had to give them my 2 cents. I voted a 1.
APL BPL CPL DPL EPL FPL GPL HPL IPL...
I work at a bank where we still (duh) use big iron. One thing you DO NOT want to do is IPL.
It's very bad, especially if someone tries to do it while people in other timezones are usings those mainframe apps!
(For the uninitiated, IPL = Initial Program Load. It basically means restart the whole group of apps on the machine. In the old days, I'm betting this meant rewind the tape and reboot the room... er, mainframe.)
SlashSigTheorem: Humorous, Political, Critical, Constructive- If you have a
"Ladies and Gentlemen of this supposed jury, Microsoft's accusers would certainly want you to believe my client was issuing confusing EULAs, confoundint their critics and confusing the multitudes, and they make a good case. Hell, I almost felt pity myself. But Ladies and Gentlemen of this supposed jury, I have one final thing I want you to consider.
Ladies and Gentlemen, this is Chewbacca. Chewbacca is a Wookiee from the planet Kashyyyk who carried a gun and ran from the mob. But Chewbacca lives on the planet Endor. Now think about it. That does not make sense. Why would a Wookiee, an eight-foot-tall Wookiee, want to live on Endor with a bunch of two-foot-tall Ewoks. That does not make sense.
But more important, you have to ask yourself what does this have to do with this case. Nothing. Ladies and Gentlemen, it has nothing to do with this case. It does not make sense. Look at me. I'm a lawyer defending a major software company and I'm talkin' about Chewbacca. Does that make sense? Ladies and Gentlemen I am not making any sense. None of this makes sense.
And so you have to remember when you're in that jury room deliberating and conjugating the Emancipation Proclamation, does it make sense? No. Ladies and Gentlemen of this supposed jury it does not make sense. If Chewbacca lives on Endor you must acquit.
I know he seems guilty. But ladies and gentlemen this is Chewbacca. Now think about that for one minute. That does not make sense. Why am I talking about Chewbacca when billions of dollars of recurring license revenue are on the line? Why? I'll tell you why. I don't know. It doesn't make sense. If Chewbacca does not make sense you must acquit. Here look at the monkey , look at the silly monkey.
The defense rests."
Microsoft outlawed the GPL. We all know it was coming.
Linus, if you need help installing XP on all your machines, give me a call.
-Spack
Not creepy at all. It makes the loopholes quite clear.
The MSGPL license, for GPL implementations of MS protocols need only include the clause that changes must be available in source code form or in binary digits tattooed across the backside of the author, and that a license fee of one wet honey glazed ham is due if the software is used consecutively for more than sixty thousand years.
Here's a handy link to vote for the page. Interestingly, the vote counter is taking a life of its own and soaring... How odd...
Is that kinda like the XFL?
"You may use, modify, and redistribute this software freely, and must make it available to third parties under this license in the event that they are able to defeat you in a Grudge Match in The Iron Cage of Fury!"
It's easy to imagine Evil Linus with a goatee, but what would Evil RMS look like?
I imagine that in this universe Bill Gates is a Luke-Skywalker kind of figure at the head of the rebel Microsoft organization, trying to take down the Orwellianly-named Free Software Foundation.
Microsoft OLE DB Provider for SQL Server error '80040e21'
Transaction (Process ID 76) was deadlocked on {lock} resources with another process and has been chosen as the deadlock victim.
Rerun the transaction.
/library/shared/common/inc/SqlData. asp, line 434
So, it'd sort of be a LAME for CIFS. Which seems particularly apt, when you think about it.
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
Sure it is. It's when you break the big prong off of the 3-prong plug, and plug the computer in anyway. The computer is then "ungrounded".
Alternatively, it's when you do something to redeem yourself in the eyes of your parents when you had previously been in trouble for mischief. When the sentence is lifted, you have been "ungrounded".
Finally, it's what happened a few days after September 11 when the planes started flying again, as the FAA had stopped all flights while security measures were enhanced. The first plane to lift off that day became "ungrounded".
ALL HAIL BRAK!!!
No, you are thinking of MODULE_LICENSE_GPL. EXPORT_SYMBOL_GPL is about making it hard for binary driver writers to write drivers (because it took Alan so much time to write his 15 lines of code). Read the fucking thread instead of smiling wanly, man.
Pushin' 'n dealin', shovin' 'n stealin'
The GPL forbids mix with propietary licenses. Whats the problem?
a license fee of one wet honey glazed ham is due if the software is used consecutively for more than sixty thousand years.
I find the terms of the MS compatible GPL to be far too restrictive.
First, 60,000 years is far too short. I fully intend to be alive, youthful, and in perfect health in 60,000,000 years. Second, at that time, swine from whence honey glazed ham is made may well be extinct, and while genetic decendents of Long Pigs such as Bill Gates and the Honorable Senator "Disney" Hollings may still be present, honey made hams made from such creatures may not strictly qualify under the terms of the license, making it impossible to adhere to the terms of the license at all upon its termination in a short 60,000 years.
Instead, may I recommend a termination date 60x10^4000 years, and a fee payable in 1 cm^3 of common hydrogen or the equivelent converted energy thereof, calculated from Einstein's e=mc^2, payable upon that date, or the final death of the universe, whichever comes first?
That would offer the freedom I require, and the payment option (a cubic centimeter of hydrogen) is likely to be obtainable even in 60x10^4000 years, assuming the other criteria of the license termination (the end of the universe itself) hasn't taken effect.
The Future of Human Evolution: Autonomy
That's not fair...it's not like Microsoft ever tried to influence the results of a /. poll...
"Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos!"