Microsoft's Overlooked Code Theft

Like2Byte was one of many readers to point out that "Newsforge is reporting that Microsoft was fined by a French court for three million francs "because it illegally included another company's proprietary source code in SoftImage 3D," something which (as the story points out) went mostly unremarked at the time. This is one of the points mentioned by Peruvian Senator David Villanueva Nuñez in his response to Microsoft FUD.

Comments

Re:I wonder...

[filth grinder]

probably not much... M$ software doesn't work.

Quick!

[SLot]

Call the BSA!

Microsoft stole my code!

[Anti-Microsoft Troll]

I wrote modules of an operating system in sixth grade as part of my Introduction to Computers class. Granted, I didn't know a thing, and my OS consisted of printing "Hello World" and asking the user what kind of ice cream they liked.

But I've just discovered that my code is at the heart of the Longhorn project. Apparently, the new version of Windows is going to be called "Windows Hello World, Ice Cream Edition."

Nothing shocks me anymore.

[Dr. Bent]

I've gotten to the point where no news of Microsoft's misdeeds would shock me anymore.

Microsoft is cutting up babies to make their user manuals! So what.

They're attempting to terraform the earth's atmosphere to more closely resemble Bill Gates' home planet! Big deal.

Steve Ballmer has Stalin's brain implanted into his skull to make him a more effective leader! What else is new.....

Seriously, anything you could say about something evil that Microsoft does...I wouldn't disbelieve it. I don't know if this speaks more about Microsoft's trashed reputation, or my jaded attitude toward MegaCorp(tm) style policies.

Re:Nothing shocks me anymore.

[Anonymous Coward]

I've gotten to the point where no news of Microsoft's misdeeds would shock me anymore.

Microsoft is cutting up babies to make their user manuals!

Actually, this would shock me a great deal.

I mean, when was the last time you got an actual manual with an MS product?

Re:Cause for an audit?

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's a project for people with free time. Put together a list of terms that might be seen in GPL code, and then grep various Microsoft products for them. If you get a hit, open up the binary with a good editor, and have a look.

Bill Gates can do anything.

[Futurepower(R)]

Bill Gates can do anything he likes. But, you can't do anything to him. It's a child's dream.

Re:Not entirely their fault

[Waffle Iron]

That is why, when you purchase another company, you enter a phase call "Due Diligence" so you can find out what kind of scumbags/angels you are buying. So, yes it is entirely Microsoft's fault for not researching the company they were buying.

Yeah, a dialog box probably popped up with a bunch of boring legal documents in it:

"The status of this company is described below. You must accept this status in order to complete your purchase of this company. Press 'Yes' to accept or 'No' to cancel."

We can all guess as to whether they read all of the text before clicking on "Yes"...

Re:FUD

[Anonymous Coward]

Or, to use it in a sentence.

I live with FUD every time I boot into Windows.

Re:Greek gods running amok

[Alsee]

Like Steve "Monkey-Boy" Ballmer?
I wonder what the Greek is for "Developers! Developers! Developers! Developers!"?

I sure hope it's not "Eureka! Eureka! Eureka! Eureka!" - Steve Ballmer running naked through the streets naked is a scary thought.

-

I can feel my arteries hardening

[i0lanthe]

The BSD license allows more or less unfettered code-poaching

BSD == poached code

GPL == hard boiled code

LGPL == soft boiled code

Apache license == code over easy

Artistic license == code Benedict

Mozilla license == code McMuffin

Sun == ... aw, you know.