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Microsoft Dislikes Nations Trying to Escape Lock-in
Johnny Mnemonic writes "Reuters, link to C|Net, is reporting that Microsoft considers a possible collaboration among three Asian nations to produce their own OS "unfair". You just can't make this stuff up. Shouldn't Asian nations also have the Freedom to Innovate? Or is this merely a dodge by Microsoft to demonstrate that they really do face competition? Will they hire Boies to prosecute their case?"
Microsoft are either off their heads, or someone at the State Dpt has given them a wink and they know they can get away with acting like two-year olds.
"Governments should not be in the position to decide who the winners are," Robertson said.
:)
Of course not; Microsoft likes to be in that position
Alan Perlis once said: "A language that doesn't affect the way you think about programming, is not worth knowing"
Mmmmmmm...
Microsoft's only comeback I can think of is that, at least, they patented ones and zeroes.
Small potatoes make the steak look bigger.
Looks like MS is facing more competition than they'd like. They can change their ways, improve their products, or falter and die. My bet is they'll try to get their systems in these places at a price cheaper than dirt, as they've tried before with Munich and the rest. Interesting to see how this will revolutionize the software industry in the long run.
A blog like any other.
so that is what the sound of over a billion people laughing sounds like.
Will they hire Boies to prosecute their case?
Or will they hire Rumsfeld?
Well, you have to admit that it is a little bit unfair since it is not a company on the free market developing a competing product, but it is the governments of those nations doing it. So, Microsoft has something of a point, since the nations do hinder free competition.
A cartel of governments with an annual GDP in the 5 trillion range producing an OS with the intent of "compeating" with a company in the neighborhood of a thousand times smaller is not the free market. They should innovate. Small business loads, grad students. But ultimately governments making software isn't a whole lot better than governments making airplanes or computer chips. Microsoft does have a case. And they probably should get the US to go to step up to the plate, especially considering how little of the MS software in use throughout asia was paid for.
--Jimmy has fancy plans; and pants to match.
From the article: "You would have to look at what a government does--whether it's a protectionist issue," Robertson said, "As with any trade-related issue, Microsoft would look to its peers and colleagues in the information technology community for guidance."
Who exactly are Microsoft's "peers"? IBM, Sun, Sony, the Open Source "community"? On one hand MS wants to create a "government security program" that it defines and implements, on the other they want their "peers" to say that doing anything else is unfair?! Good luck!
MS are simply copying the line of the US government (and a lot of US companies and even /. users).
Look at steel, farm goods, coding out-sourcing, skilled immigrants etc, etc.
In all these fields the US or a lot of its citizens are actively seeking to halt global competition and seeking to privilege US companies, producers and citizens.
MS are simply trying to get their piece of the action, though of course than means that they are already on a downward slope (ask any Pensylvannia steel worker about how effective trade sanctions have been at protecting the long term health of their industry).
Tom Robertson on one hand says "Governments should not be in the position to decide who the winners are," and yet when asked if its an international trade issue says "You would have to look at what a government does--whether it's a protectionist issue," which if it was seen as protectionist would require action by the US Government. Wouldn't it then be a case of a government deciding the issue?
According to Rob Enderle, Microsoft is hated because it's misunderstood.
So please, try to understand their side -- those poor, misunderstood folks in Redmond need your support. Really.
It hurts their feelings when we make fun of them, and talk about the methods they use to achieve their goals in unkind ways.
C'mon, lighten up. They're good guys.
</not>
Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
Hey! It's possible we may receive some competition within these three countries! That's unfair, bring out our most prized posessions, yes, it's time for *dun dun dun* the lawyers!
Comment: Yes I realise the username 'fuckfuck101' makes me sound intelligent, no you cannot buy it from me.
Loosely translated, this means that Micro$oft hasn't contributed enough money to someone's political campaign just yet.
against Japanese TRON system to stop its penetration into PC market.
Was Microsoft ever fair? Doesn't it unfairly leverage its monopoly to crush competitors daily? Doesn't it lock people into their products, and charge an arm and a leg for upgrades? And now Microsoft is saying that other people wanting to develop an OS is "unfair"? Cry me a river.
"Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it." -- Linus Torvalds
As a foreigner working in Japan for a tech company, I have realized that the expectations of quality and service here are MUCH higher than in the rest of the world.
People in my company really cant understand how thing like MSBLAST happen and there is nobody from MS on TV the next day apologizing (or committing seppuku =).
Now that things in the computer industry are settling down, they will slowly push Microsoft out of the picture.
Wait and see.
Apparently the Asian triad wants to go as far away from Microsoft as they can. The bigger question, will open source innovation be shared.
Oh, please.
That it doesn't own the copyright to an "operating system" (yet..) and that not only is it somebody's right to create and use their own operating system, it's also a right for countries, goverments to create and use their own operating system.
Comment: Yes I realise the username 'fuckfuck101' makes me sound intelligent, no you cannot buy it from me.
after reading the article (?!) i thought it seemed as though this "asian coalition" will merely be providing an alternative and not forcing it on people, as you may have thought if you had only read the summary.
> "I allege that SCO is full of it" -Linus
That there's some crazy person behind some desk at microsoft who's calling the shots; this man is a psychopath...
Candy-Coated Knowledge
If the Asian countries were deliberately trying to shut MS out of the private-sector market, then MS would have the beginning of a case (only the beginning, mind. There is still a reasonable case for anti-trust action like the EU is taking). Under world trade rules, etc. you're not supposed to deliberately shut out foreign competition.
BUT... It is accepted, and very common, for governments to deliberately favour their own producers for government contracts. This can be for any reason, including economic, security, and strategic considerations. Microsoft really don't have a leg to stand on on this count.
Fuck you. The United States has a right to support their allies, and that doesn't justify killing thousands of innocent civilians. Even if you disagree with Israel, at least they don't kill innocent civilians. Their effors are directed at leaders of terrorist organizations. And you wonder why the rest of the world hates you fucking arabs. Fuck right off, asshole.
O'WONDERWe're working on it.
The US has a legal system which gives several critical advantages to companies like Microsoft (DMCA, software patents, etc)... it is only fair when other countries say "we don't like that" and choose a system that gives strong advantages to Free Software. Free Software is typically developed by its users and not as a product to be sold; since governments are among the largest software users it is only natural for them to consider making significant contributions to developing the Free Software that they would like to use.
Does anyone else think that by complaining at this point in time they are making it known that this OS could be a real threat? Or is there some alterior motive behind this all? (Conspiracy theorists unite!)
So would it be "unfair" for, say, the Pentagon to announce it wanted to use software developed in the USA in preference to overseas products?
The Microsoft Corporation recently bought themselves the USS Enterprise (The aircraft carrier) and rechristened it to the MSCACDOTNET (Microsoft Certified Aircraft Carrier Dot NET ) "William Gates the Third". Latest US satelite intel indicated the ship, along with several other recent MS aquired warships due to a sneaky clause in the license for Windows 2003 .NET server for the US navy, were last seen heading toward the Pacific. Among the ships are the MSACDOTNET William Gates the Third, the 'boomer' submarines MSC Alabama and MSC Red October along with a small flotilla of surface warships and a large convoy of freighters with Win 2k3 .NET licenses, all heading for an unknown destination.
In other news, Denzel Washington and Sean Connery have been flogged with a wet towel.
Hate me!
Hey, wait! But people in asia aren't americans..
woops, microsoft propaganda got a error and will try to restart.
You know, that "unamerican" think sounded very very bad for people who are not from US as me (Brazil), and looked a lot like emotional blackmail.
...Irak was attacked bacause they had (no) WMD's. What reasons do Microsoft.gov need to send US troops to Asia?
I have to first take offense to Microsoft's philosophy that if it's not broken, fix it and charge more for it... and if it's broken, ignore it until something terrible happens.
That said, this latest call that it's unfair for countries to divert the giant cash waterfall from MS, I find the notion preposterous. Similar arguments have been used by MS lawyers for years now to defend against accusations of shenanigans. The point being, that free market is the underlying theme and MS can't cry about the free market deciding they are too greedy, and the demand can be met on less expensive systems that don't cause massive havoc every time some child gets a hold of their latest gaping hole.
9/11 wasn't about China, Europe, or US arrogance. It's about extremist terrorist assholes abruptly ending the lives of thousands of innocent civilians. I'm sorry that you think US arrogance somehow justifies terrorism, hijacking of commercial planes, and the murder of thousands of innocent people. Assholes like you are what's wrong with this world.
Microsoft's Robertson said all governments and consumers were concerned by security and that it was an industrywide issue.
Noticably absent is Microsoft. I guess they aren't concerned about security!
As much of a microsoft critique I am I will however stand up for them on this case. While it does seem like MS is trying to dominate the world markets what they are doing is also business sense to try to keep as many markets as they can. Microsoft is simply getting the backlash from doing this is because they have a large company who has tried to dominate the markets of america. But how many linux people thought when they saw this "Thats where linux will go next." The linux community is looking at this case to become the dominate OS and Microsoft is looking at this case where they want be the reigning champ. But perhaps this is the opporunity that MS will take and become partly open source. To sum this up, Microsoft is doing what a normal business would do at the sign of being dethroned by their enemy (Linux and open source). They are likely still licking their wounds from the Munich case and now they might lose their foot hold in asia is tramatic to anyone. Whether or not MS creates a open source alternitave or Linux steals away Asia, this will be an interesting topic.
"Pointing to a particular software vendor and to a particular software (standard) gets you nowhere," Robertson said."
So the fact that 90% of the nasty virii/worms/disfuntionality are associated with a "particular sofware" is meaningless or should be ignored? Dear God that's just too pathetic a statement to address...
Robertson said Microsoft has been working to have Japan participate in its Government Security Program, which gives national governments and international organizations access to Microsoft's source code, the underlying blueprint of its programs.
And how do they get the code changed if they see something they don't like? Anyway the underlying issue is control of critical infrastructure. OS software is becoming just that - a critical infrastructure item. Governments SHOULD be concerned about it.
Crocodille Tears.
Is the juice worth the sqeeze?
in a related article we read the following:
" to challenge the dominance of Microsoft on server computers."
how can MS consider it a threat when their stronghold is the desktop? they only have ~half the server market to start with, and there is no technical reason they should have that much at all.
> "I allege that SCO is full of it" -Linus
Everywhere we are seeing seeds of discontent. The first anger Microsoft planted in its customers was when it got greedy and ended licensing that permitted you to own only as many copies of software that you actually had running. Then all of these recent "software assurance" changes have angered folks more. Companies and countries are starting to understand that they are locked in and have little choice and they are looking for ways to bail. And Microsoft's actions are starting to look more and more desperate starting to scramble to hold on to what they have. This story, the viral GPL fud, their financial backing of SCO, their desperate and failed attempts to move into other markets, etc, etc.
Oh, people will disagree with me, but where does Microsoft have left to go? Nowhere but down, and the stock market doesn't like any downward movement, even if the company *is* making billions.
And Microsoft better not disagree with this danger either, for their own good. Complacency is the first step toward irrelevance. But I honestly believe they know this is coming and are scared shitless. Gates isn't stupid.
I'm not saying here that Microsoft play fair themselves, but they do have a point...
Should governments (ANY government) directly fund the development of an OS? (Or for that matter, any application that will compete with commercial providers).
Linux is a good OS, but it is too 'technical' for most users, which is a large reason why it isn't more widely adopted, even though it is 'free'. So MS can still shift large numbers of software.
And whilst there is a lot of progress in the open source arena, this situation is going to continue without large amounts of funding.
Funds coming from commercial organisations still has to be paid for by commercial activities - there is no guaranteed cash flow. Governments are different - there income is (more or less) guaranteed, and therefore so is the funding (give or take a change in government / policy).
There are also a whole load of conflicts of interest. Will the governments 'ban' the use of Windows? Introduce large import duties? Whilst Microsoft dominates the market, and can therefore exert a large influence over it, they can't stop the competition from improving, and force people to use their software. Governments (can) control the market.
Of course Asian countries should have the same freedom to innovate as everyone else... if this was a commercial led initiative, MS would really be acting like two year olds... as a government initiative, there are legitimate concerns...
Actually it was close to 5,000 people, not 30,000. Go away, troll.
The reality is that Microsoft can scream and cry all they want but it's not going to make any difference. Governemnts do not like being ordered about by companies and they're even less likely to take instructions from a foreign company.
As a socialist I fully support the concept of an open source system funded by taxpayers money. As long as it's open source, who cares. Although why you'd base it on Linux is a mystery.
-- Be careful what you say. Someone might remind you about it another day.
If it's BSD, I wouldn't expect much sharing to happen. If it's the GPL, then they should [if they intend to redistribute modified products.]
Use ISO 8601 dates [YYYY-MM-DD]
If their sales fall then they won't be able to sustain their monolithic enterprise. As soon as they start laying off staff then it's the beginning of the end for Microsoft. News like that doesn't install investor confidence.
Their profit margins on Windows and Office are quite high, if they have to constantly undercut Linux solutions then their income from these two lines will be reduced. Problem with that scenerio is those two product lines keep the company going and allows them to take risks in other markets.
Microsoft has lawyers.
Japan has Ninja. China has, well, they have Jackie Chan. I don't know what Korea has, but I'm sure it's something good.
Microsoft has no chance to survive; make their time.
I nearly laughed so much I fell off my chair, then I looked to see If it was April 1st. Are M$ for real, Wooo Hoo, now M$ really are sounding like SCO ...
... poor billy boy gates ...
Come to daddy
Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
Why dont Microsoft just concenrate on making their product work and be more inter-operable with other OS's, they have the oppertunity to stay at the top but this sort of "Its all mine or else" attitude is going to cause them to lose ground over time.
I think the major reasons the Asia market is looking to its own OS solution is that they dont like Microsofts attitude or their seemingly inflexible stance.
-- Jim
-- If at first you don't succeed, lie!
Microsoft's position is that a market dominated by huge corporate entities, supported by huge government and military contracts and legislation like the DMCA and patent acts, is more free (i.e. better) than one in which governments are direct players.
I always thought they liked nations trying to escape lock-in. :)
My conjecture is that they're realising that they cannot win against Free Software unless they manage to create the impression of Free Software such as GNU/Linux being "un-American" and "a threat from Asia against our economy".
Of course they'll consider it an added bonus that maybe they can get US dimplomats involved in putting pressure on foreign governments in areas like
They just dont want Microsoft Software looking after there nuclear missile SILO's , very sensible if you ask me :)
Electronic Music Made Using Linux http://soundcloud.com/polyp
"Even if you disagree with Israel, at least they don't kill innocent civilians."
That's very untrue. Very VERY untrue. Three times as many Palestinians have died in this intifada. It's hard to say that Israel is on the defensive. Both sides are just plain wrong, but if we judge morality based on quantity, I'd say Israel has a lot of explaining to do.
HI, MY NAME IS ISAAC.
Either the US or China should declare war on the other, already. I'm sick of this crap.
It used to be that countries would declare war on each other because of petty rivalries between dukes and princes. Now, it sometimes takes an act of god to get them to go at it. How stupid is that?!?!
We're spending billions of dollars (a big chunk of our GDP) on national defense. And we never even use it! We shuffle our troops from base to base, sure, and we log our mileage and tally our days in service and hang our medals. But do we ever do anything productive? Do we ever kill anyone? Of course not.
Is it because we can't anymore? Bullshit. It's because we're afraid to. It's because we've let ourselves get castrated by the liberal media and their doomsday predictions about what might happen if one nation accidentally steps on the toes of the other.
Are we the world's largest superpower or what?!?! Is Bush to big a chump or is he just a pansy?!?!
If we don't start declaring open war on countries that disrespect our sovereignty, then foreign countries will think they can get away with pissing us off. Can you imagine FDR or Eisenhower letting the Chinese hold our American soldiers hostage like this? We haven't seen crap like this since Jimmy Carter, and let me tell you, those were some pretty sad days.
We must settle for no less than outright war. They think they have the upper hand now, but wait until we give it to them old-fashioned American style. They probably don't even have all those nukes they keep whispering about. Have we ever seen them detonate one? Well have we? NO! They don't exist.
Once open war is declared, our economy will boom. It'll be the answer to our recent economic downturn. Look at how WW2 pulled us out of the Depression. And look at how much more expensive modern equipment is. More expenses mean more contribution to our economy and our GDP. That means more funding for the military. It's a positive feedback loop.
And when we're done with China, we should go back to the USSR and show those guys what we're made of. We never bombed them for the U2 incident all those years ago, so it's time we showed them what for. That's what distinguishes the men from the Canadians.
Should governments (ANY government) directly fund the development of an OS
Maybe, is it a better use of public money to improve on a free system, or to pay license fees for a commercial system.
This goes for every thing a governement does. If it is cheaper to buy software they should. If it is cheaper to improve the quality of free software to the point it is competative they should.
If a company or group of individuals can create a decent OS. (Be was never _that_ big) then surely a government has the resources to do this.
What political campaign in China are you talking about ?
9/11 was all about American arrogance! Even after 9/11 Americans still think they're allowed to play the world-wide police force - they even seem to think it gives them all the more right. See how things are going in both Afganistan and Iraq: the Americans screwed up, now they're asking the UN to help.
Note that I do not think your arrogance justifies terrorism; some terrorist action just was bound to happen due to your shortsightedness. And though 3000 deaths are a lot, I think it's only a fraction of the people who died in 'evil nations' due to American intervention abroad. (I think Americans are to be blamed for 99% of all Palestinian and Israelian deaths as well, for example).
ask any Pensylvannia steel worker about how effective trade sanctions have been at protecting the long term health of their industry
It has companies scrambling to use off shore steel, nobody wants to depend on this artificially high priced US steel.
The arrogant way the US steel companies are tearing up contracts and raising prices is destroying their customer relationships.
These protectionist duties and tariffs are accelerating the decline of the US steel industry not protecting it.
Okay, this is from my personal experience. It's absolutely true, and I think it speaks a lot about what's going on over there.
I went to an IRC channel I frequent a few months ago. I'm an op there. There was someone there with the nick Hamas2003 who msgd me. I told him I didn't think his nick was appropriate for the channel. When he didn't understand, I tried explaining to him that Hamas is a terrorist group and that this channel doesn't tolerate terrorism. Israel may be somewhat wrong here, but there have been numerous ceasefires that have been broken by homicide bombings. This didn't seem to matter to him. Killing innocent Palestinians is wrong, but Israel has made an effort to make pease. It's well known that Ariel Sharon has agreed to a Palestinian state as long as this state isn't supporting terrorist activities. How would The US like it if Al-Qaeda set up a terrorist state on their borders? That wouldn't go over very well. And the US would be rightfully mad. Anyway, no matter what I said to him, he just wouldn't accept that Israelis have as much a right to live as he does.
And no, he wasn't some kid in the US trolling. His IP was in a netblock owned by a Jordanian ISP.
9/11 was an inevitable consequence of USA's retarded and/or "wrong" foreign policies, which includes arrogance.
if it was going to happen to someone, I'm glad it was the USA.
The governments will not be spending trillions of dollars.
They should not even spend more then the current value of the licensing fees they expect to save. This probaly puts their development budget for this project below what MS would be spending on development.
If they can build a linux distribution that matches or beats the comperable MS system, for less money then they would have to pay, they should do this.
This is competition, it's just proper allocation of resources.
Outsourcing the development to private companies will probaly be how this gets done anyway.
that when you are the size they are, with the money they have... you are playing on almost the same level as the governments of the world... and the sympathies we might have for some normal business do not exist.
Any better suggestions anyone?
is probably straighter than lightbeam.
I am an ex-patriot (amercan living in Japan for the illeterate). One of the duties of a government is to provide and protect its people from all types of ills. Just because the US bows toward Redmaond three times a day does not mean the rest of the world needs to. Computing has become a necessity for life and as such should be made available to all-MS will not make it so, hence it becomes the governments duty to help its people. I applaud this action!
Very creative. Gotta love pro-M$ trolls
Japan, the world's second largest economy, made a proposal at an Asian economic summit this week to build an inexpensive and trustworthy open-source operating system that would be based on a system such as Linux, which can be copied and modified freely.
"We'd like to see the market decide who the winners are in the software industry," Tom Robertson, Microsoft's Tokyo-based director for government affairs in Asia, told Reuters in a telephone interview.
I think the market IS deciding, which is going to be Microsoft's biggest problem for the next few years.
"Governments should not be in the position to decide who the winners are," Robertson said.
You know, I don't remember there being any protest from Microsoft when the US government stopped accepting RFP documents in WordPerfect format. I guess they've had a change of heart for some reason.
Full story at Netscape.com
It's not the governments of Japan or China that need to be put on alert, it is our own. As Departments of State, Treasury, and the White House among others, busily archive critical documents in .DOC format that will not easily be converted to anything else in a few years, low level management of these departments need to be aware that going the "safe route" of managing everything using Microsoft tools will in hindsight only allow you to say "But everyone else around me was doing that too".
I suspect there will be more and more defectors from this way of thinking, even within the US government as time goes on. However as that happens there will also be signs of desparation from Microsoft as they try and appeal to some sort of warped patriotism that says we should all keep using overpriced, buggy and undocumented junk.
We need to stop thinking of Windows as America's software equivalent to the Boeing 7x7, and start thinking of it as America's software equivalent of the Yugo...
Q: How do you make a Yugo go faster?
A: A towtruck.
Q: What do you call the shock absorbers inside a Yugo?
A: Passengers.
So if a bunch of people get together to finance a new operating sytsem, it's okay, unless it's the people of an entire country, then it's bad?
The Government Security Program, launched in January, aims to address concerns by governments over the reliability and security of Microsoft's software by providing controlled access to source code as well as technical advice on security.
/that/ is funny. Better read the EULA on that Technical Security Advice.
Controlled Access. Well, IMO, if I can't build it and verify it produces the same binary, how can I be sure I was shown the real source? I can't.
Security advice from the company that a) can't seem to secure their own OS against basic script kiddie invasions and b) seeks to keep security flaws a pricey secret.
Now
My Suburban burns less gasoline than your Prius.
why am I getting flashbacks of when:
-MS pulled IE from the Mac saying Safari was too much for them?
-When AOL had dominant market share and microsoft tried hacking into AOLs servers and called for a open IM protocol introduced?
-When Netscape had dominant market share and MS touted IE's conformance to web standards which no longer apply?
People like this who immediately decide to bring up gays in their posts are most likely repressed homosexuals themselves. Why else would they be frequently thinking about it?
Looks like MS is facing more competition than they'd like.
As in ANY competition?
Reminds me of the Simpsons episode where Bill Gates comes in and destroys Homer's internet business (that didn't do anything).
But you gotta love that butter stick pencil holder.....
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
The convicted monopolist abusers that have systematically bought or wrecked all of their competition, or some other, fluffier company that I wasn't previously aware of?
They can dish it out but they can't take it, eh?
If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
Q:How many Microsoft programmers does it take to change a lightbulb?
A:None, they get Bill to declare darkness to be the international standard
Look, as an example, at the *BSD world. They have lots of talented people, many of the finest minds in the *nix world, and started with a good product. Yet a "college kid" in Finland started a product that kicked their collective arses in market penetration. Why? Linux mostly avoided the bueracracy and political infighting that has plagued *BSD. (neither an opinion of the technical merits of *BSD, nor a "BSD is dying troll)
What the nations should be doing is sponsering programmers, giving them a mandate to 1) contribute to open source, 2) spend a significant fraction of that contribution making open source more available to asians. Then let those programmers participlate wherever they want. I could imagine an army of programmers working with OpenOffice.org, for instance, improving the word processing software overall, and its ability to deal with asian character sets. Others would contribute to Debian and Gentoo, creating asian language documentation and binary versions of those distributions.
No thanks to Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton...
Is having a kitchen an impediment to the free market of restaurants?
Is driving a car an impediment to the free market of taxi and train companies?
Get real, man.
Free market means that people have the freedom to choose which product to use, and these countries choose to make and use their own. There is nothing wrong with that, not even considering the "free market" globalization iron fist of driving poor countries into complete bankruptcy (read the book and articles from Greg Palast for scary documentation about this).
In fact, it is in their best interest to reduce their dependency on software imports from other countries, and everyone acting in their own best interest is exactly the idea of free markets.
Good troll article. MS never said anything abotu "fair". The only place "fair" or "unfair" was used in this article was the headline. It was not used in any quotes attributed to Microsoft.
Expatriate....
An ex-patriot would most likely make you a terrorist in this political climate.. an ex-patriot is one who is no longer a patriot, or no longer someone who loves, supports, and defends his country.
An expatriate is one who does not live in his country of citizenship any longer.
The only reason they might monitor the SCO situation is for humor value.
Asian countries are going to do unto MS as MS did to IBM. Let's not blame Linux, though; if not for Torvalds, the BSDs would BSOD MS soon enough.
Prediction: MS eventually splits into OS and application companies. The application arm ports the profitable bits of MS software to Linux, and continues to do decent business. The OS arm gradually tapers off, as the inexorable migration away from proprietary operating systems continues.
Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
I so care about the opinion of a random nobody on the internet. Really.
Hate me!
The US "free market" speech is cynicism of the highest order, which is abundantly clear with the US farm goods, which are highly subsidized by the government. Then the USA is using "free market" treaties to force the poor Mexicans (whose government can not afford these subsidies) to buy the "cheaper" US farm goods instead of their own, which are actually produced at substantially lower prices.
All the potentially noble thoughts behind this free market newspeak is completely eviscerated by the subsidies of the various governments. As long as governments subsidize their local producers, there is nothing free about the market.
Both of you are acting like children and you both sound like the typical arrogant American vs. arrogant forigener, you both should be smacked.
This has to be made up! No, wait, it's Microsoft we're talking about, isn't it?
Last year Brazil had a billion dollar program to get computers into schools and it specifically called for "computers running Microsoft Windows" (I'm not making this up either).
It's interesting that Microsoft didn't protest against unfair competition then, isn't it?
Obviously what matters to the government is they can start with an existing product, Linux or a BSD are free for them to start with.
They get their cost benefit from that. If they choose a system that they can release as OSS for others good.
I don't see anyone talking about the government forcing you to use a particular operating system. The closest I've heard of is having to us MS office file formats to submit bids for government contracts.
... from any other customer. If they want to develop their own solution in-house, why shouldn't they be able to. As the size of an organization grows, the benefits of internalizing things like that increases. A 20 person company couldn't afford to develop it's own operating system, but a 250,000 person company could. Also, you shouldn't measure the government by the number of people it governs, but rather by the number of people it employs.
i said it on newwin.net and ill say it here too: ALL the microsoft zelots out there SHOW ME THE SENTENCE THAT SAYS THAT THE RETROSPECTIVE GOVERNMENTS ARE GOING TO FORCE THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE. All they are doing is contributing money to developing it and if they do develop Linux they are bound to release the code by the GPL which in turn can be sold by distributors etc which in turn make money and develop code ... "The cycle of Linux"
it's not all good when they pir8 their stuff.
it's not when they find an alternative?
Surely the lower-end, more affordable Macs are sufficient for the majority of the office workers.
"Remember last week you were asking me the definition of irony?"
"And I for one welcome our new insect overlords."
SCO?
The U.S. faces criticism even when we try to stay out of something. When other countries want something done, they call on us. When we decide to do something on our own, though, they complain. Perhaps other countries should stop asking us for help and foreign aid.
From 1930s to 1980s governments would develup software internally instead of buying off the shelf software and that appears to be the case here.
I don't actually exist.
That was politically suppressed by the US?
I believe it was invented or created by some Japanese, is open source and has instead become like a world wide OS used in embedded devices..
Can't think of the name of it... tinyOS or something like that - I did a search on TinyOS but somehow couldn'tr find it's origins or history....
Anyway, the point is..... if governments weren't manipulating such things, perhaps there wouldn't be a Microsoft as we know it today...
When there is a perfectly good one already available...Linux? If they need something more, just start an OSS project to add what they think it lacks. Cheap, fast, and targeted. Reduce redundant development, build off past successful development.
In Bushworld, they struggle to keep church and state separate in Iraq as they increasingly merge the two in America.
they ban the use of microsoft products in the government or ban the entry of microsoft products in their respective countries.
however, since the government themselves invest a hefty sum on it, then it would be good if that money will be used to develop their own software. then they can distribute the software to their citizens for free (i hope so.) the consumers are still given the choice to choose between their homegrown software compared to microsoft software. it is fair since consumers are still given choice.
same with when building infrastructure or material projects. they can build it on their own without requiring or relying commercial companies to built it.
Live your life each day as if it was your last.
... that a government used proprietary software as opposed to something commercial. No doubt, every government has some programmers on hand so how is this any different? It's just on a larger scale.
If anything, this is competition at its best. And if you want it done right, you've got to do it yourself.
Who doesn't like free music?
#1 software maker? By what criterion? Quantity? I could probably dig up a few companies that ship a hell of a lot more different, important software packages than MS, like maybe CCH Computax for example. #1 in market cap? That has nothing to do with software. #1 most vulnerable software? I think we're getting close. They're talking about quality, but not in the way they'd like, being the worlds #1 most vulnerable OS.
I'm not trolling, but since when does M$ have a say in plans of another nation?
It's as if England started building houses for Britons and Toll Brothers got in a huffy about it. I don't really know if Toll Brothers builds in England, but you get the idea...
Microsoft Dislikes Nations Trying to Escape Lock-in
In other news, Fire Hot.
In walking, just walk. In sitting, just sit. Above all, don't wobble.
-- Yun-Men
That must be some ugly source code, it seems like they got a look that and ran like hell.
"Asian trio in deal to replace Windows" was very conservative and seemed to suffer from "first discovery" syndrome. Linux is "untested" and hasn't been used much in business yet despite Oracle's "claims", etc?
Is this such a big deal? I seem to remember that linux was adapted to one of the South African languages (Sotho?) in a few weeks. The technology should be routine. The story is in people breaking away from the monopoly.
I don't know about you people, but after being locked in the office with Microsoft for four days, I would try to escape as well. The garbage can used as a toilet must be full by now, and the air is pretty bad.
At least they have water left in the water cooler, and Bill still has power left in the cell phone to call for pizzas.
Irene KHAAAAAAN!
I'll first disclaim that I'm unfairly biased against Microsoft. But then, that puts me in good company here.
Microsoft is no longer at the top of their game. They're still the dominant world superpower, but the world can now see that MSFT has vulnerabilities, and that we have alternatives.
As much as I'd like to see them go the way of the Roman Empire, Soviet Russia, and Enron, I'm afraid of what happens when MSFT falls. What does that do to the US economy? Does Microsoft fall with a "Splat!" like Enron and take a million jobs and half of every American's 401(k) with them, or do they quietly fade into obsoloscence like Atari?
These are the things that keep me up at night.
The cure for cancer is coming: Reovirus
if you ask me i think articles like this just feed the anti-microsoft zealots. i think it's perfectly normal for microsoft to be concerned as a company. frankly i don't understand why most of the posts i've read about this see this as microsoft just wanting more control. microsoft is a large company and maybe a lot of what they do needs to be regulated but when a government has control over a product that will rival another many factors come into play. i think people see this as absurd on microsoft's part only because of their size and what they have done in the past. regardless, if these three government's produce an os they can say "no microsoft" or "our os only" which from an outside perspective is kinda unfair. if i had a company as large as microsoft i would hope i would have a better business record but hearing that the asian market will produce their own os, i would be weary myself. i don't think it's about control in microsoft's case but fair competition (not to say microsoft practices this), which a government can easily restrict.
another thing is that the governments want to get together and produce this os. people don't seem to think about the concerns this can raise. everyone has a problem with microsoft corporation being too powerful, yet we have three governments collaborating here to make their own os. microsoft has its flaws and many at that but would you rather trust your computers operating system to the government!? i don't know about everyone else but i think i'd choose microsoft before CIA-OS.
food for thought...
fact: microsoft > linux
If governments develop a competeting OS, how is Microsoft supposed to deal with them according to MS market stratedgy?
They can't drive governments out of buisiness, so it's not fair to microsoft.
From MS
"We'd like to see the market decide who the winners are in the software industry," Tom Robertson, Microsoft's Tokyo-based director for government affairs in Asia"
(The market meaning Microsoft)
"Governments should not be in the position to decide who the winners are," Robertson said."
(Only the wealthy corporations willing to operate at a loss, spend millions to secure trade and distribution lockout agreements, deserve to select who the winners are)
Now that three Asian countries have decided to join forces to develop Linux to power eletronic gadgets ranging from TVs to Toasters to Set-top-boxes to Fridges to Mobile Phones, of course MS is angry, because nobody wants that "Win CE" no more.
To make it even easier for MS to throw even more of its temper tantrums around, let me introduce you to yet another OpenSourced and Embeddedable Operating System that can mince MS's Win CE into even tinier bits.
The Operating System is called B-Free, and it's the OpenSourced version of the TRON operating sytem that has powered many Japanese electronic gadgets for decades.
I know it's in the pre-alpha stage right now, but heck, it's there for the taking and the TRON OS has proven itself to be a very robust and stable OS.
Go on, download it, try it, hack it, tweak it, and then share your result to the world.
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
But all I hear is the sounds of Billy saying "Its not fair! Its not fair! I can't use my monopoly to get them like I did Be."
...who the winners are in many cases. I'm not trying to be some kind of loony conspiracy theorist here, but the fact of the matter is that the free market sometimes plays less of a role than personal interests do in government purchasing. Unfair? I think so, but it's nothing new. At least with the cases described here, it seems like it's being done with the country's best interests in mind, not with the intent of generating business for a "friend." (Okay, I'm done ranting now).
I produce electronic music and write little games. Have a look.
That's very untrue. Very VERY untrue. Three times as many Palestinians have died in this intifada.
Bullshit. You're assuming that all Palestinians killed are as innocent as the Israelis targeted by terrorists bastards. I'm not saying that innocent Palestinians civilians don't get killed or hurt but I'd wager that not even a twentieth of those Palestinians killed are just innocent bystanders. And even when civilians are killed by actions necessitated by terrorist activity, you're blaming the wrong people--blame the fucking Palestinian terrorists who use civilians on both sides as both targets and cover. In the US, cops are allowed to shoot even if the shooter is using a hostage as a shield. The Geneva Conventions on the rules of war allow use of military force in similar situations. I'm sure you're one of those idiots that accused Israel of all sorts of atrocities at Jenin just because twice as many Palestinians died as Israeli soldiers. Well that figure didn't include Israeli civilians who died from the several dozens of terrorist attacks planned and launched from Jenin aka the Capital of Suicide bombings.
It's hard to say that Israel is on the defensive.
Why is it hard to say that Israel is on the defensive? Just because they have superior forces as a result of their liberal democratic state (in the Hegelian sense) with a capitalistic economy while the Palestinian has done nothing but bitch, whine and plot terrorist strikes the past 50+ years? Israel is on the defensive because it is only counter-punching. The Israeli government is obviously going to care about its taxpayers a whole hell of a lot more than terrorists and their sympathizers who are trying to destroy their country.
Both sides are just plain wrong, but if we judge morality based on quantity, I'd say Israel has a lot of explaining to do.
No, you're wrong. There are more than just two sides here. There is Israel, the innocent Palestinians who aren't involved with nor support terrorism and Palestinians that do. I would say you have lot of explaining to do in how you equate a state defending its citizens with terrorist groups whose try to kill as many innocent civilians as possible in order to invite harsh reprisals as a sympathy ploy (but it's working with idiots around the world-especially europe though).
because it could force Micro$oft to get the head out of their asses and port their applications to the new platform lest they loose their hold on the dominant file formats.
Look i know slashdot is meant to be anti-microsoft but there is no need to quote Justin Timberlake! ;)
The facts are that they are not MAKING a new OS, they have created a strategy to ENCOURAGE the use of open-source alternatives.
All Microsoft is doing is ramping up the PR machine, and they'll have the Asian office send a memo to the government.
An initiative for all government computers to be open-sourced. Microsoft says that it thinks the consumers themselves should be deciding these things, not the governments- but the government IS the consumer in this case. So microsoft is saying it doesn't want governments to be deciding for itself?
-- 'The' Lord and Master Bitman On High, Master Of All
Thank god, the Internet, which has been mainly created by government-funded research, has competed "unfairly" with proprietary online services such as MSN, AOL and Compuserve.
I think these other govs are just trying to protect their citizens from faulty products. M$ has nothing to base these claims on.
Hey Billy G., tough to be on the wet end huh? Keep sucking!
If you don't say anything, you won't be called on to repeat it. -- Calvin Coolidge
I am sorry, but I am getting tired of these trolls. Microsoft does NOT have any point at all here.
-Microsoft does not provide a satisfactory product (not enough security, too much cost, no customization etc) for many customers, most importantly for governments.
-Governments do fund development of massive software systems (defense, research, administration), in addition to roads and other infrastructure. This happens in the US too.
-Because of the nature of software (the cost of reproduction and the benefit of building on the work of others) it is in no way cost-effective to buy proprietary software in most cases.
-Microsoft is a predatory monopoly, sentenced as such by american courts. They have 85% profit margins on their main products, something which is a sign that they are not in a healthy, competitive market. This also shows that consumers are not in any way getting good value for their money.
So Microsoft has no reason to complain about this. It is actually puzzling why it hasnt been done before.
We wrote an OS full of security holes and managed to force our way onto millions of machines... now (gasp), someone has seen the light and is writing their OWN OS (!)... our monopoly on the market is being threatened!! This is NO FAIR!
Talk about the pot calling the kettle black..
All the large consumer electronics companies have decided to standardize on linux (embedded).
All the large phone makers (Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola) have very consciously decided against using MS software in their phones because they don't want MS to enter their market and screw them over. I bet Sony & IBM are working to make the PS3 such a killer console in order to stop microsoft from taking a larger market with the xbox.
If the State dept lends itself to promote microsoft they will just show themselves off as ignorant pawnsand be perceived as such by foreign govts. The US is not imperialist but MS certainly is.
Of those to whom much is given, much is required.
Subsidy creates distortion not a unfree market. An unfree market is one in which certain products are banned by law or effectively banned. Contrast the market for cheese (where there is heavy distortion based on state of origin) to the market for drugs (where there are outright bans).
The move to jointly develop a server operating system that's based on Linux began in March with a meeting in Thailand of more than 100 software engineers from the three countries.
Microsoft has no reason to cry foul. They will have access to the source code too. They can even improve on the OS and sell it. They just need to make the source code available.
Microsoft does NOT have any point at all here.
-Microsoft does not provide a satisfactory product (not enough security, too much cost, no customization etc) for many customers, most importantly for governments.
-Governments do fund development of massive software systems (defense, research, administration), in addition to roads and other infrastructure. This happens in the US too.
-Because of the nature of software (the cost of reproduction and the benefit of building on the work of others) it is in no way cost-effective to buy proprietary software in most cases.
-Microsoft is a predatory monopoly, sentenced as such by american courts. They have 85% profit margins on their main products, something which is a sign that they are not in a healthy, competitive market. This also shows that consumers are not in any way getting good value for their money.
Most of these facts alone should make a government choose an alternative. Taken together, it is puzzling why it hasnt happened before.
Most computer languages are English-based, using words such as 'do', 'while', etc. So that international developers have to know at least some English in order to code C, PHP, and certainly HTML. But how deep will the Chinese/Korean/Japanese OS developers go?
They have some commonality in their alphabets, which have thousands of characters, rather than the 26 English letters - so will they use Unicode for the actual source code? Will basic terms such as 'if' and 'then' be written in an Asian language that will be incomprehensable for most American developers?
every stain tells a story
The price of running MS Outlook on the desktop may far exceed its
price...!
try www.seasidesw.com
I dont know too much about Enderle myself, but a number of posters on Groklaw (a paralegals blog covering the SCO case) read a lot of his articles and say that he is fervently anti-open source - apparently he called Linux developers terrorists and thieves in recent articles (the quote was along the lines of open sourcers seem to believe that stealing is ok, so long as they are the ones doing it).
Somebody also mentioned his anti-open source stance is based not on a dislike of the methodology of the results of the technology, but because he has had a personal dispute with some open source developers or supporters - his pro-MS, pro-SCO stance is apparently nothing more than a personnel vendetta against those people.
Another viewpoint is that he is simply a troll employ to keep high page hits on his publishers website.
-----
Free P2P Backup, Windows & Linux
craziness! Whatever it is you were smoking when writing this... can I have some?
You can't handle the truth.
China already has Red Flag Linux ready to go if they so choose. If the Chinese government decrees that Microsoft has to go, then that is it. Look at what they have already done with MS Office. In one fell swoop they said no more MS Office and that was that. Granted this does nothing for Korea and Japan but with the ease of customizing Linux, I am sure that a Rising Sun Linux and what Korea wants to call theirs is not that far away.
This must be Microsoft's worst nightmare. Imagine MS reps trying to persuade China to consider Windows again when they have decided to go with Red Flag Linux.
MS rep: Please consider Windows again. We will give you a ridiculously low price!
Chinese official: smiles and politely replies in Chinese
MS rep: smiles and asks translator what he said.
Chinese translator: he said "Fuck off"
It is as simple as this. Once China makes up their mind, there is no going back for MS.
No trees were harmed in the composition of this; however, numerous electrons were inconvenienced.
Microsoft considers a possible collaboration among three Asian nations to produce their own OS "unfair".
Boo-fucking-hoo.... My ass bleeds peanut butter for you Bill. It's not enough that you've strong-armed the rest of the free world into running your Big Brother Inside spyware package, you won't stop untill every living being has a Wintel microchip implanted at the base of the skull.
You have a "god" complex. Someone is going to knock you off of your high horse, and that someone is a little guy named TUX..
P.S. Bill, please die soon, we've had quite enough already..
More power to them, I just hope it ends up being better than that Freedows project. :)
I thought China standardized on Red Flag Linux? I guess they want something easier to use and configure? A Windows clone could do that.
The thing that scares Microsoft is that they could end up selling the Asian Windows Clone to other markets and take away sales from Microsoft. Imagine if they made an English version and sold it to the US, UK, and Canada and then they made versions for other languages and sold them to the world?
But Microsoft is abandoning the Windows platform, Longhorn won't run Legacy Windows or DOS programs. So why should Microsoft care at this point? By the time the Asian Windows Clone comes out, Longhorn may be out.
The trick is to discover the Windows Undocumented API codes that Microsoft doesn't like to give out. But didn't China or some other country view the Windows source code as part of the Monopoly abuse case? Interesting to say the least.
Remember, Slashdot does not have a -1 disagree moderation, and no, troll, flamebait, and overrated are not substitutes.
M$ blows.
And "Johnny Mnemonic" was a stupid movie.
Perhaps a more accurate plea would be "let the markets less powerful than us decide".
Microsoft is the corporate manifestation of a bag lady at the edge of the bazaar--it believes in its own delusions of grandeur that are substantiated only by the trinkets of ill-gotten code that it can stuff into its shopping cart operating system. Microsoft wanders around the edge of the bazaar, snarling at free performers and the merchants, spiting at their standards and products. Prowling the edge, Microsoft can only peddle its opium to the suits that also skirt the bazaar. These suits, unlike their serfs, fear that they will become confused in this arena of ideas. Microsoft does market the best opium, and with its profits, can afford to sit and watch the bazaar. Awakening from its stupor, Microsoft slowly responds to cries for better fixes. Microsoft trips the performers juggling their standards and lures a few merchants away from their products. Microsoft ties together these new trinkets together with some string that it found earlier, as bag ladies often do. This string keeps the suits from trying to buy just one trinket. One day, a performer and a merchant walk out to the edge of the bazaar and asks, "Microsoft, why do you not work within our open bazaar named Innovate. Microsoft scoffs. They reassure Microsoft and say, "We all have the right to Innovate and you are welcome to join our community. The greedy bag lady screams out, "I alone must have the right to Innovate!"
http://www.geocities.com/grok42tampabay/
Linux is business-ready and with it's pricetag it seems to fit well. Sure training might be an issue, but many times the user won't even deal with the OS -- just the applications that run in it. In fact, I think that's something that Linux does very well -- it gets out of the way and allows the user to use the application of their choice. All Linux does, and should do, is to simply create an environment in which applications are available to the user in the most secure, transparent, and stable way.
openoffice.org is quickly becoming a force to be reckoned with -- a few more revs and I think we'll start to see businesses adopting it, first on the Windows platform and then on a Linux (BSD, etc.) of their choice. If the open-source community can continue to bond and show that our products are more solid, customisable, and will continue to be in existence, then I think we will start to see Microsoft having to dig deeper and deeper into it's reserves.
This is my digital signature. 10011011001
[begin sarcasm]
That's right. Government-sponsored research to produce a more stable and secure operating system is just so unfair, anti-capitalist, and therefore anti-american! If the customers would want a secure operating system, they would just buy one.Let the customer decide, and stop this eternal government interference. And while we're at it, let's also stop all government-sponsored research for alternative energy resources, cleaner cars, et cetera. And no money to the public transportation system either. If people want to ride the subway, they can buy one!
[end sarcasm]
So if Japan, China and South Korea got this OS together and into the marketplace, and Microsoft sued, and won, and same countries had silly ideas about their own national sovereignties and economies and told MS to feck off, would Redmond petition the U.S. to intervene militarily to enforce fair market practices?
Absurd, but so is MS attempting to dictate tech policy to foreign nations.
xox,
Dead Nancy
Microsoft prefers competition between software applications to be determined in the free markets rather than by government agencies
perhaps they'd like to consider the following:
1: Withdraw all political lobbyists from pestering politicians.
2: Stop making bri.. oops, donations to political parties.
3: ensure that all "charitable" donations are made via banks rather than press agencies
4: Stop flying the UK E-Envoy and other countries IT decision makers to Redmond for freebies, oops there I go again - conferences at which to discuss which MS products they'll be buying next.
5: Talk to the DoJ and, after offering thanks for favours done in the past agree to undergo investigation for the parts of the anti-trust trial that were dropped when the current US administration came to power.
6: Open up their file formats so that makers of third party and competing software can compete on a level playing field rather than having to reverse engineer complicated code for the sake of interop' with monopoly creating products i.e. MS Office.
7: Release the API details reqd. to make software run as quick as theirs
Until these and the manifold other issues created by MS's monopoly are dealt with maybe they's be graceful enough to SHUT THE FUCK UP about free markets, a concept that they either don't understand or have no intention of utilising.
Hmmmmmm..... Deep fried and look like Squirrel.
We'd like to see the market decide who the winners are in the software industry," said Tom Robertson, Microsoft's Tokyo-based director for government affairs in Asia.
Christ, either he thinks I'm stupid, or he is stupid.
If Slashdot were chemistry it would look like this:Cadaverine
I wish I had mod points to give you. I *despise* so-called free marketeers / objectivists who, in fact, really only want to stack the deck in favor of whatever group they like, and cry foul when they start to slide.
Bush: He's Liberal in all the wrong ways.
What MS is complaining about is that a govt is going to be funding this. And governments dont need to be profitable, if they give the OS away for free and spent $1B USD developing it, no big deal. It just came out of the taxpayers pockets (who now get to use it for free so they really paid for it anyways). But yea, my point is governments dont have a profit margin. MS does. The govt can undercut MS's product. Thats what they worry about.
The Doormat
If you're not outraged, then you're not paying attention.
Just think of all the millions or even billions of dollars this country will lose when asia stops buying from us. And then think about all the millions this country has put into linux development only to have them tweak it and close it up (I'm assuming, but it looks likely). Before all the anti-ms zealots out there jump up and down, those who live in america and are bitching out all the layoffs, think how this will make it worse.
Microsoft products are mandated for use throughout the US Government. What a pathetic joke.
How many palms did Microsoft have to grease before they owned the US Government and DOD? Answer : all of them.
At least what is happening in Asia is groups of campanies working with their governments to make something better, which seems better than the US government propping up an illegal monopoly.
Ow! damn you, ow!
cLive ;-)
-- Trinity in high heels carrying a whip: The donimatrix - there is no spoonerism
Catching up with Bill Gates of Microsoft outside his $600 million dollar home this morning, he declared "I strongly believe it is unfair to use any software but ours, and to come up with your own so you're not totally reliant on us is just wrong on so many levels. And if they're worried about all the NSA backdoors in Windows, tell them to suck it up and live with it like everybody else. Privacy is dead. Now screw off, peasant. I've got a tee-off at ten."
Similarly, a press release from Orville Reddenbacker this morning claimed that "when you buy no-name popcorn, you're buying terrorism" and immediately demanded the abolition or bombing of all popcorn makers but them in order to defend America against this terrible low-priced threat. "The time for competition is over", the deceased Reddenbacker stated, the national anthem playing gloriously in the background, "We are an American institution now and must be protected from any loss of sales resulting from people buying other brands. Choice is the true enemy here. Remember this when you're voting, kids, there should be limits on freedom - especially the freedom to buy popcorn other than our new Maple Salmon flavored EZ-Popp(TM) Microwaveable popping corn, on sale now at better grocery stores near you."
The RIAA, MPAA, and SatelliteTV vendors all agreed. "Look, we all know that you'd all have bought all those 400,000 CDs, movies, and tv channels anyway if it weren't for piracy, so just cough up the money and we'll call off the dogs. Making 'mad money' is a guaranteed right that is protected by law since Dubya's been in power. It's the American Way. You love America, don't you? If you don't buy more stuff from us, we WILL press charges." Jack Valenti took it one step further. "These goddamn Chimese terrorisms ain't de worst part of dis trend either. What I tink we should do is outlaw 'playing outside'. Yup, jes tink about it. All dem little rats playing outside when dey could be enjoying a good movie or copy-protected Celine CD. De children is de REAL Boston Stranglers here, dose unAmerican little gooks. Wasting their lives playing outside in de goddam sun when dey could be supporting our economy? I don't understand kids dese days. De world is goin' straight to hell, I tell ya. Goddam nature. We'll sue God next, yeah, go for de REAL deep pockets." At this point, SCO's Darl McBride quickly took out a notepad and started scribbling furiously and then ran off, his villainous humpback swaying in the wind.
Despite the overwhelmingly good evidence the corporate shills of America had barfed forth, I thought I'd see if another view existed. So I sought out some elusive hippie culture leaders. When asked for his views, the uber-influential Richard Stallman said, "My name is GNU/RMS! Why can't you people get that right!" and starting making clucking noises and playing a flute like that little centaur guy off the Hercules cartoon. His arch-enemy Linus Torvalds quipped, "I don't get involved. Sorry.", dismissed us with a wave of his hand, and went back to his penguin burrito. Eric Raymond could not be reached for comment, as he has been at the gun club since July and is apparently not ever coming out until people start using Python to write device drivers.
I don't think governments like being badly treated as a customer, much less a, shudder, Microsoft customer.
:).
Good luck to all the people that want to build an alternative. I hope they GPL the pruduct and share this innovation with the rest of us
Make it better, make it work, make it known.
I believe you mean
'TRON'
Hello? I think it just did. Hint: you're not among them. (-:
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
"Will they hire Boies to prosecute their case?"
They could do that: the DOJ, Napster and Al Gore did.
My guess, however, is that they'd prefer to win. SCO take note.
-he who laughs last, is a bit slow.
journal
It could be unfair because such state sponsorships of the new software could amount to subsidies, which could be argued illegal under WTO rules and, possibly, othre treaties.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
Irony in action. See above post.
I read up to Microsoft, the world's No. 1 software maker and gave up.
They are near the bottom of my list of software writters.
They may be the world's No. 1 money maker, but thats not the same thing.
In a way it IS unfair though, because these companies don't have economic systems which can produce a company able to take on Microsoft they instead have to use tax dollars to subsidize a "solution"
The same thing happened when Europe founded Airbus and I would consider that unfair to Boeing.
They have a point on this one. Having to compete with governments is not a proposition that any company would feel is fair.
MS is missing the real point. They may whine about it being "unfair", but it is all entirely their fault. Microsoft has had 10+ years to deliver a stable, secure operating system to the people of the world. They have been unable to do so, and now the world has had enough. The confidence in Microsoft products has finally gotten low enough that goverments, and people around the world are looking for something better. That's all there really is to it.
:)
At this point I think that if the OpenSource community wants to become the next big provider of OS's and software, then the product delivered needs to be three things:
1. Easy to Use
2. Stable
3. Secure
It's pretty much got 2 and 3 set, although maybe a little more work needs to be done there. As for ease of use, great strides have been made in that direction, but a lot of work is still needed. As a recent article said, there is a lot of amazing OpenSource software out there, but most of it lacks the polish required to be great. I really hope the open source developers can rise to the occasion. It would really be the nail in Microsoft's coffin.
Ender
Of course, that just my opinion. I could be wrong
Nothing to see here
When will M$ wake up and realize that their anti-competitive practices are the *reason* that asian governments want to build their own os. M$ doesn't innovate (its obvious, yet they keep saying they do), they act arrogantly and write unfair agreements, etc. It serves them right.
-Sean
The word unfair doesn't appear anywhere in that story. You should have italicized it since unfair was just your own interpretation.
..."Microsoft prefers competition between software applications to be determined in the free markets rather than by government agencies." This from the company that last week said they would have document lock-in - they were going to design the new Office so you couldn't import word docs into other applications. You reap what you sow, baby.
Will there be people in 2100? Will they be real skinny? vote : the_real_38@yahoo.com
Perhaps it escaped your attention that the Japanese Government was putting forward $86m in funding towards the development costs? It has not been revealed how much the other 2 countries are putting in but I cannot see it being many times the Japanese amount. How much is M$'s annual R&D budget? Did you also faiil to notices that Universities and regional companies were also involved in the effort? If you removed the blinkers you might be able seem clearer...
Always funny when you see that this article was sponsored by a Microsoft Ad.
"How would you like it if you were a car manufacturer and suddenly a government would start producing cars and competing with you using taxpayer money?"
There are fundamental flaws in your argument. If one were to build that argument from the ground up:
1) Cars would be made by a company in one country and sold to people of another country who cannot or do not make cars themselves
2) A Free Car design exists and is nearly free to implement (cost of basic parts)
If I'm in the non-car-producing company, and I want a car, I can either pay for that car to be imported, which sends money back to the country that it came from, or I can work with the Free Car design, and build my own. Obviously if I care about the economy of my country, using the Free Car design makes more sense. It doesn't contribute a lot of money to my own country, but it deprives the other country of moneys from my country that probably won't cycle back through my country's economy.
If my government is smart, they'll see that their country's outpouring of money for government cars to another country's company isn't in the best interests of my country, and they'll look for an alternative. Since my country doesn't commercially produce cars, they'll look into the Free Car design, and if they like it and can produce it for the same or less than their importing works with, then they have incentive to do so, because they will both reduce economic dependence on the foreign country, and deny that country it's money.
Microsoft is a large software company with offices all over the world, but they're an American company. Their development costs are readily paid off by the millions of people, and possibly billions of computers that run their software. Worldwide, a lot of money leaves nations and travels through Redmond, Washington back into the economy of the United States. Money that these other countries could probably use internally to bolster their own economies. If they can take a product or implementation, like Linux, BSD, even FreeDOS, and make it do what they need to do, so they break their dependence on a foreign product, it is in their best interest to do so. If any development work is to be paid for, it makes sense to use local developers, whose salaries will allow them to spend locally, thus bolstering their economies.
Linux shows promise of being an anti-globalization step on a very limited scale, but one that is very pronounced. The most amusing part about it is that it can be anti-globalization while it globalizes, since the ownership and rights to use are designed to keep it free. It also promotes compatibility between systems, should such be needed, if it's adopted globally.
The City of Munich's decision to adopt SuSE Linux is an example of this local economic feeding. Granted, IBM is involved, but SuSE is the product that Munich is using, so if they choose to, they could drop the IBM portion of their support at any time, and go with straight SuSE, which would be the local boys. I won't be surprised if they ultimately build their own in-house IT department to handle all of this, and IBM slowly pulls out of the picture there, or has a smaller influence.
If a country can reduce their dependence, it's almost always a good thing.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
much like your site, your server, your posts to slashdot, your karma, and your life.
Microsoft labeling them as "Un-American" will give them a lot of credit which can't be achievable by any other way.
Consider that MS has built in a backdoor for US spies. What happens to US (military/CIA/FBI)inteligence if the countries build their own secure OS.
Yeah I though that too.
Karma: Censored (mostly affected by decency laws)
If I were a large MS shareholder, I would have already demanded MS split itself into OS and App companies.
I suspect if they did that, the result would be worth far more than the company today, we'd probably have a revival in PC innovation, and there would be a general economic revival in the tech sector.
Instead, MS is sitting on billions in cash, the stock price is in the dumper, and every foreign government is trying to dump MS. I can't believe the shareholders don't quietly ask Ballmer and Gates to step down.
And no, I am not trolling.
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
..M$ bought the USS Yorktown too? ;-)
Microsoft Windows is a system. That system is our enemy. But when you're inside, you look around and what do you see? Businessmen, Teachers, Lawyers, Carpenters...the very minds of the people we're trying to save. But until we do, these people are still a part of that system, and that makes them our enemy. You have to understand, most of these people are not ready to be unplugged from Windows. And many of them are so innerred, so hopelessly dependent on the system that they will fight to protect it.
http://saveie6.com/
It seems that every country other than the US is trying to build on open source software, while the US is trying to protect Microsoft under the guise of "free" markets. (Now that's doublespeak!)
It's only a matter time when the US will be the only country stuck with proprietary software, while the rest of the world will be light years a head because their tools will not be hidden and obscured.
If you think the tech economy is bad in the US now, wait about ten years! All of our technology will come from abroad.
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
M$ gave away Internet Explorer.
Netscape had to compete with free, and lost. Now the battle field is level, and M$ doesn't like it because it is competing with free.
Hurts to wear the shoe on the other foot, doesn't it?
Eternity: will that be smoking, or non-smoking? I Corinthians 6:9-10
--I greasily rub my finger and thumb together.--
This is the world's smallest violin playing "My Heart Pumps Purple Piss for You.".
They would have a point if they were an ordinary company. But Microsoft has grown so huge that the only effective competition against them, the only kinds of organizations with enough resources to establish alternative operating systems as standards, are governments. And that's OK: governments are in the business of dealing with monopolies--that is one of their purposes.
I tend to forget sometimes that what these Microsoft representatives say sometimes is probably not what they really feel inside. It's a job, they are hired on the team to continue the world domination of the Microsoft OS.
A long time ago, I once had a job where I had to wear a particular piece of fabric to identify me as an employee, a piece of clothing that I not only found uncomfortable, but one that also made me feel kind of stupid. What made me feel guilty sometimes was that all the other employees did not feel this way about their identifying piece of fabric and I realized that for most people, the motivation is to comply with the rules of the organization. If you feel a little stupid at first being required to wear an uncomfortable polyester uniform, hey, you get used to it, it's not that bad... better than being unemployed, right? This is the type of attitude I see here. These MS sales folks are not anywhere near as passionate about their OS as they might be. They are just going through the motions, doing their jobs.
Obviously, Microsoft does not care about the customer, but I have the distinct feeling that the MS execs are making strong statements because they are being paid to do that. So you have to take it with a grain of salt. If the representative told the truth, the obvious, blaring truth, for instance:
"Sure, develop your own OS, and we wish you the best of success with it! For what you want to do with it, Windows, really, it's not secure enough, not to mention that we're going to have to sign you up in a special program if you want the source, at which point we may have to enforce our IP laws on any further development that you may do. Collaborating to build your own OS is going to be much less expensive in the long run. However, feel free to call us anytime if you need any of our services or products, we value our relationship with you."
that representative would no longer be working for MS.
I bet all those Microsoft execs really run Linux in their closets. Or maybe they have one of those stealthy dual-boot systems "just for research purposes".
Furthermore, when you look at the cross-section of industries in the world at this point in time, the open source / free software development and support fields are probably a couple of the very few places where job satisfaction can still be found, and where employees are treated like human beings, not some sort of number or robot, while all the profits that should be going into the business and to the employees keep getting funneled to large, overpriced, proprietary software vendors.
You must really have no idea of the rest of the world if you think bribery is more rampant in the US than elsewhere. If anything it's far less rampant in the US than elsewhere, and some US corporations have even complained that they're hampered doing business abroad because they're legally prevented from bribery, and so lose out to foreign corporations which aren't so prevented.
There's dozens of countries I could cite, but if you want an EU country with rampant bribery, you need look no further than Silvio Berlusconi's Italy, to name just one.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
Sleep easy. People who are still invested in M$ are like people who have invested in SCO. They are investing in greed and deserve what they get when both of them go tits up.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Try and SCO this, biotch!
Perhaps Bill and Steve should should try passing out Linux CD's to eager young children on the steps of some library. Symbolic 'dimes' so to speak.
sig mind freed
To put things in proper persective, however, consider that the amount of money Japan is throwing at the problem, $1,000,000,000 is about what Microsoft spent mearly promoting XP. This is a tenative first step, but a good one.
I'm looking forward to those three countries breaking Microsoft's lock on hardware makers. That will be a good thing for everyone.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
the decision of these asian countries to switch away from M$. I think that after echelon and the recent iraqi invasion operated by the US, the world is going to not trust anymore the US in general and one of the more powerful US companies in particular; specially when it comes to information technology one has to be sure that nobody will steal his sensitive data and control of his machines. I am expecting that more and more governments and companies will switch in the future.
since when did china/asia at all give a fuck about copyrights and patents or infringing on them
as i recall asia has the biggest pirated everything black market on earth
The problem isn't lack of innovation on the part of Microsoft, its their lack of security. While security would definitely be an issue for a software company in a level playing field, there is no level playing field for Microsoft. Having a monopoly in OS software, their need isn't security first as there's no real competition for them on the desktop. They can continue to add new features into their software without much fear a lack of security will eat into their bottom line. After all, most users want features over security. This is a fact.
> >...releasing documents only readable on that OS
>
> That's ridiculous, if it's open source.
Have you been able to read OpenOffice SXW and SXC files in Microsoft Office? I'm able to read them into OpenOffice, GNOME Office (with some reduced functionality), and KOffice (with some reduced functionality) just fine.
So the real story is that there is going to be a new linux distribution, with a lot of time, resources put into it. How is that any different than any of the larger American or Euro distributions? It was sactioned by the government?
MS shouldn't even worry - new linux distributions take the majority of their new users from other linux distributions.
> According to Rob Enderle ...
>
> C'mon, lighten up. They're good guys.
>
> </not>
That's a mismatched "</not>" tag...thank you!!!!
Someone posted a "<not>" opening tag the day before SCO got all it's press coverage:
* praising Linux as an innovation
* saying that SCO violated the rights of Linux because IBM copied code from Linux into SCO
* creating a DDoS attack from the SCO website TO the rest of the Linux community.
But that stupid unmatched opening "<not>" caused the opposite of those stories to be posted.
What a relief. We can not see factual stories on Slashdot.
<not>
Opps!! You broke ranks and spoke the truth. You are not helping the "leaders" to become even more powerful. You must be denounced as a heretic...maybe even a terrorists. Yeah, that's it! You're weakening our country with your truth, which makes you a terrorist.
> Correction - Secretary of the Navy John H. Dalton
> admitted that the clause was not acutally sneaky.
> "We never actually read the EULA. We needed to
> install it so we just clicked 'OK'."
Correction on the correction. He actually said "We never actually read the EULA. My neighbor's cat just happened to run across the keyboard before I had a chance, so the software got installed anyway. If Microsoft wants to sue my neighbor's cat, they're welcome to try."
I can't tell if the above post is making an ironic comment on cultural misperceptions of Asia or simply parlaying them.
Why has "you can buy a human being over there still" scored "2, Insightful" without specifying exactly where "over there" is (what, all of Asia?) and referencing some documentation of humans being bought and sold.
I have no problem if Microsoft will take newly modified but still GPLed code of Linux and sell it. It will be still GPLed and we'll have all Microsoft modifications as well. I think Microsoft has no choice anyway but to switch their software revenue mostly to services (especially support, training, books and online), with Linux or without. So, I won't be surprised to see Microsoft on the same boat with "triad" after all.
Less is more !
If they do it based on Linux - the result will be GPLed. Period.
Less is more !
It looks like other /.ers haven't yet noticed that the author of the pro-Microsoft article actually does work for Microsoft.
From http://enderlegroup.com/profile.asp
"For over 20 years Rob has worked for and with companies like Microsoft...".
I particularly like the "for and with" which sounds even more like he is still affiliated with them even when he's not officially working for them.
For those who didn't know, this is also the dude who wrote the InternetWeekly article Linux isn't ready for the Enterprise: Reasons to Shun Open Sourcery
It's also funny that on the same page as he talks about working "for and with" Microsoft, he claims that he accurately predicted "the failure of Netscape months in advance of the actual events"! Boy, I wonder WHERE he got information about Microsoft's plans "to cut off Netscape's air supply"?
I don't. Do you mind to provide any links to remind?
Less is more !
"Governments should not be in the position to decide who the winners are," Robertson [MS] said. Yep. That's why they shouldn't be making and enforcing copyright laws. Let the market, not the laws (and threat of suit thereunder) decide whose business model is best. If there is no market for your product, go sell lemonade.
Stupid people make stupid things profitable.
I personally hope that these Asians repeat the successes they've had with automobiles and create a reliable commercial OS for the US market. They'll help bring down the price of commercial OSes with higher quality product. Microsoft's reaction is justified in light of what the Asians did to the US car market. It'll be fun to watch them squirm.
Kurtz is that you?
Right, split them up into OS and APP companies...
...
That's pretty PC-centric though. Lets not forget the XBOX. Split Microsoft into OS, App and Video Game Companies.
Well then there is the MS Smart Phones... so split Microsoft into OS, App, Video Games, and Mobile Phones.
Hmmm, that leaves MSN out. Hotmail and Passport too. OK then we need to split Microsoft into OS, App, Video Gaming, Mobile Phone and Internet Services.
Of course they make hardware too... Tablet PC's, Microsoft Mouse and Keyboards. So - oh this is it!
Split Microsoft into
OS, Applications, Video Gaming, Mobile Phones, Internet Services and Hardware Companies.
And do it quick before they start making Media Centers!!!
This is no different than a government subsidy. It would be really easy for the United States to completely take over say the bicycle industry, just have the government start subsidizing bike makers so they could sell the bikes for dirt-cheap overseas. Of course, foreign countries would counter by imposing tariffs on US bikes so as to not put their own bike makers out of business and the next thing you know you have a nice little trade-war going on.
I don't see how software is any different from bikes. If asian governments start funding software development and make it such that US products (ie. Windows) can't compete, then the US would respond be putting tariffs on other products produced in those countries, again, nice little trade war where everybody loses.
I wonder how quickly Korea would quit making AsianOS when we slapped a 20% tariff on Hyndai vehicles (effectively putting Hyndai out of business in the US). Or how about Toyota, Honda, or Sony?
It's all too easy for them now to sit back and decide to make their own OS, as they have no presence in the OS industry now to speak of. But they are nuts if they think the US is going to just roll over quietly as they subsidize out of asian existence a multi-billion dollar industry that we are dominant in.
I have to say .Net and windows suck real bad no wonder other countries will use linux and java.
http://www.redflag-linux.com/eindex.html
Big Brother Bush is doubleplus ungood.
Microsoft's arguement is simple. It is bad policy for govts. to run businesses that compete with industry. A govt. that cares about individual rights has no business taking taxpayer money and using it to develop products that compete with industries. A govts. only job is to defend individual rights. It shouldn't be wasting taxpayer money on social engineering by messing with the free market. I certainly would object to the US govt investing in software that wasn't directly related to national security or other govt. functions. A govt developing software to compete directly with commercial software is taking a step towards communism. Let Redat, Mandrake, and free orgs. like FSF develop Linux, but don't force taxpayers to pay for it by turning it into a govt. project unless you have a really good reason. I won't even get into the practical problems of who's in charge of development when govts. get involved.
Vote for Pedro
Off the top of my head, the only thing I've ever seen marked as made in America is my zippo lighter. A country that outsources everything to Asian countries can't really turn around and block trade with them. :)
Not like they can sue them or something and besides those parts of asia havnt really been the counties that has been known for actually *paying* for the sowtware, have they?
GAAH! MY PRINTER IS ON FIRE!!! PUT IT OUT! PUT IT OUT!
Microsoft has just started playing with the political side of things and everybody's foaming at their mouth. This is how big businesses (software or not) survive in this country.
Hey, we're paying for that crap! They start developing off BSD or Linux and try and "privatize" what they get out of it, I, for one, will be mad as hell! that's where a lot of the original Unix stuff came from...Government sponsored research released into the private sector. If more of my tax money went to that stuff, I wouldn't mind paying them half as much.
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
This isn't so. It wasn't the Windows version of WordPerfect which got ported to Linux, it was the SCO UNIX version (no, not them, the other SCO). It was a perfectly normal X11 application which was perfectly stable. I still have a copy on the shelf. I personally thought it was a horrible wordprocessor and didn't use it much, but it was not a ported Windows application and did not use Wine (which, as far as I can recall, didn't exist in those days).
I'm old enough to remember when discussions on Slashdot were well informed.
I don't think governments should make choices for people, one of the reasons we have freedoms like freedom of religion. These days choosing an OS is like a technolgic religious choice. All the Linux and Mac zealits I know spout benchmarks like gospel quotes. In all things it is up to the people, not a government, to drive our choices. Look at how the FCC has screwed up running broadcasting for a prime example.
the basis of a free market is that if there is demand for something someone will supply. Its odviously there is demand for a cheep well designed operateing system ilustrated, by the fact that 3 contrys are haveing to step up and fill the void left in the market place by microsoft. This points to how strong that unforfilled demand is the free markets have spoken, they they have declared what they want it isn't up to us to fight microsoft to get what we want its up to microsoft to service us if they do a good job we reward them with money if they fail "as they most certainly have of late" to give us what we want they deserve to perish at the hands of the markets and make way for a company that can serve the cosumer better
Roses are Red Violates are Blue im not very good a poetry but i have many other redeming qualitys
Inflation. The rich widow's nightmare, baby.
Your idea is actually quite insightful, if not slightly premature. Unfortunately, you have already been beaten to the punch. Robert Cringely's column The Pulpit has carried a story similar to yours on January 16, 2002. Definately a marginal possibility to watch for.
Absolutely. It's pretty natural for powerful organisations to seek the favour of decision makers and giving money to political parties is a pretty efficient way of doing it.
My point though, is that MS should only call for the benefits of a free market place if they are going to adhere to rules of free market economies.
Free markets thrive on innovation and creativity with good ideas and products growing due to their merits and poor products dying out due to their inferior quality, performance, whatever. A topical demonstration is SCO UNIX that has fallen behind Linux. Strictly speaking, SCO should pull their finger out, tell the lawyers to go home and hire coders to advance SCO into the 21st century by creating a 1st rate platform. If they don't want to put the work in they should dissolve and find new things to work on. Their current behaviour is that of a company that wants to leach of the superiour work of others to rescue a failing product.
MS on the other hand is the equivalent of the biggest mega-fucking predator you have ever seen. It has every evolutionary advantage to date and one desire, i.e. the death of every other animal on the planet. If an animal comes along that has an advantage over it, it should evolve to survive or die off. In MS world instead of evolving, the predator just has a quick word with God, who he's got a direct line to, and gets a quick lightning bolt to fry the newcomer.
In a free market, politicians, like God (if you're into that stuff) should not get involved with doing favours for one side or the other and should let the best product win. So my only request is that if MS want to continue demanding the benefits of a free market they should act like they're in one. If they want to carry on behaving in a monopolistic, unethical and predatory way can they please shut up and get on with it.
Hmmmmmm..... Deep fried and look like Squirrel.
Let's see, the Rich and Famous are always in favor of having power until someone has more power than them, then they start to lie.
No surprises here. Damn I'm in a cynical mood. Mostly because I quit smoking and the utility I work at is letting go lots of people.
This is my sig.
Microsoft's definition of fair competition: "A single company has a global monopoly and uses it to gain monopolies in other areas, unhindered by any market forces or acts by government agencies."
You're not thinking it through.
My comment had nothing to do with fair business practices, it has to do with return on investment. MS is making billions. Great. Where is the *return* for the investor? The stock prices are bad, and they only recently paid a paultry dividend.
MS's doing well is great for Ballmer, Allen, and Gates, but is it good for anybody else?
You were mistaken. Which is odd, since memory shouldn't be a problem for you
http://www.ertl.jp/TOPPERS/jsp-download.html
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
Both windows and unix version of ITRON:
http://www.ertl.jp/TOPPERS/jsp-download.html
Muchas Gracias, Señor Edward Snowden !
A government that uses closed-source, proprietary software is not an independent government. Who was expoiting all those security vulnerabilities in Microsoft products before they were discovered by someone willing to make them public? Maybe not just script kiddies. May one of the secret agencies of the U.S. government, such as the NSA, CIA, or FBI, or one of the others whose names are not well known.
A government that uses proprietary software is subject to hidden control.
Yes, a government should not compete with industry. But the issue is an extreme crisis that requires a change in the way things operate. Once the change is made, industry can support open source software.
Shoes not so comfortable on the other foot now is it?
Nerd: Derogatory term typically directed at anybody with a lower Slashdot ID than you.
2) "A government's only job is to defend individual rights" is an absurdly simplistic statement. Ask any ten people in any ten countries what the primary role of government is, and you're likely to get ten answers. Americans right now might tell you the primary role of government is to safeguard its citizens. Thirty years ago, they might have told you it was to provide every citizen an equal opportunity to succeed. A hundred years ago, they might have told you it was to provide law and order. Ask someone in South Korea right now, and they may say it's to prevent war. Ask someone in China, and they might say it's to raise the standard of living.
3) There is no truly free market, though as a libertarian I'm sure you would love it to be that way. Microsoft and other high-tech companies in the US receive tremendous tax benefits and the powerful backing of government agencies and elected officials, who apply pressure on other nations during trade negotiations. It would be fantastic if there were true globalization and dropping of subsidies and barriers worldwide. But that's not the reality. Microsoft is not acting alone. They have the support of the most powerful government on earth.
4) The US government considers weapons systems used by the US military to be of strategic importance. That's why, with few exceptions, almost all key American weapons systems are built by American companies, even when there are sometimes better alternatives produced in allied nations such as Germany, Britain, Italy, or France. What would happen, for example, if the French chose to stop supplying the US with weapons systems? Now imagine yourself making decisions about the security of any country on earth other than the US. The Americans have shown how sophisticated computer-driven information systems can reduce the fog of war and create staggeringly effective results. Would you want all of your own systems to be run by American-produced computer systems that you couldn't get the source code to? Wouldn't you be worried just as the French revealed the inner workings of the air defence systems they sold Iraq, Microsoft wouldn't do the same or worse to you?
Even close allies spy on each other. Why give the overwhelmingly most powerful nation on earth an open door into the heart of everything you're doing? Sure, that might be a paranoid conclusion. But if you're in charge of a nation's security, your job is to be paranoid.
Leaders in other countries are beginning to realize that software is not just an economic issue, it's an issue of much broader strategic importance.
Read the EFF's Fair Use FAQ
Because it depends on the mood of the moderator and not the opinions of the readers. You gotta be THEIR pal.
Ha, this is a bunch of BS. Let the market decide? Yeah right, like M$ really cares about their customers. They're just mad that they dont get to fill the market with lies, incompetance, and exploitation.
Governments realizing they can reduce a large tax on their entire economy by eliminting Microsoft's monopoly.
Linux is like the rubble before an avalanche
-- $G
Hopefully there will be English language support in the new OS, rather than only support for the Asian languages of the countries that will be developing it.
Regards, Graeme
Six boxes to use in the defense of liberty: letter, soap, ballot, witness, jury, ammo.
Talk about two-faced pricks!
What does every defense department in every county that has more than two dollars in their budget do? Search for proprietary, non-governmental, foreign-competitor-developed solutions to their national security needs? NO!
They pour millions -to- billions of dollars into their own economies to develop proprietary (read: NON COMMERCIAL, too) solutions to their problems. So friggin what? Asia wants to do the same. Not only is that "safe" for them, it's a form of governmentally-supported welfare for their nascent defense industries.
The only difference here, and the one Microsoft seems to be whining about, IMO, is that two or more governments wants to do it jointly.
What do you think NATO and Soviet Block members do? They share costs to develop and/or improve on weapons systems like the Harrier Jump Jet, the Dassault Mirage, the AK-47 automatic rifle, the 70mm howitzer, the T-47 tank, (insert examples here, ad nauseum). It's nothing new, revolutionary, or even remotely "unfair".
Are you gonna tell me that Boeing or Grumman has the right to complain to Russia that they chose to integrate a Soviet Block radar system, instead of "letting the market decide" to use a Grumman-integrated GE radar system? "How unfair!"
Microsoft - Get off your "me-centric" high-hourse, and GROW THE FSCK UP! The world does not revolve around YOU. Perhaps if you let your world revolve around your CUSTOMERS, you'd have a better chance at surviving. But, alas, this issue is none of your business to change. It's the way of the world.
OK try mainland china, Thailand, and Malayasia. I have spent extensive time there and still do and can tell you first hand that you can purchase anything you want if you have the $$$$. I have paid a customs agent $100 US before to carry in goods that did not have the required paperwork or importation requirements. Usually my US passport prevents them from even asking what i am carring. There is no misconception of selling a human life over there. It is absolutley done. If you choose not to believe this i cannot help you. I myself have seen this done. Hell come to Bangkok sometime i will show you a whole world you never knew existed.
. I love the sound of burning women and screaming rubber....