Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft's Lobbying Priorities: Limiting Open Source
MonkeyDev writes "In the story on cio.com, 'Mr. Gates Goes to Washington', the author says...'Microsoft cared little for politics until the Department of Justice called it a monopoly. Now the company approaches lobbying the way it approaches everything- aggressively-and consequently it dominates the technology policy agenda.' The article outlines Microsoft's power, provides several examples of legislative decisions heavily influenced by the company, and talks about where they are aiming their newly found political clout. 'Microsoft's policy agenda includes issues that many CIOs agree with, notably more government funding for research and development, stronger copyright protection, and free trade in offshore products and services. However, two of Microsoft's policy priorities, limiting the adoption of open-source software and inoculating technology companies from spam liability, stand out as areas wherein what's good for Microsoft may not be good for all CIOs.' Further, 'Microsoft has lobbied particularly hard against open source, helping kill state bills that advocate for open source in Oregon and Texas. Microsoft argues that open source freezes innovation, and Krumholtz says that commercial software alone spurs economic growth and creates jobs.'"
I love the gates foundation! They gave two goals, 1: Save the kids with medicine and 2: Kill the kids before they are born...
Wait a minute!
Stallman has an interesting approach, but it's not nearly as simple as you imply, and he does engage in an awful lot of entirely unnecessary breast-beating. Remember his original attitude towards Linux? If it were up to him we'd still be waiting for Hurd.
...
And chances are that if the whole OSS community took the "I don't give a damn" attitude about licenses and politics that you do
If I didn't give a damn about licenses and politics Stallman's shenanigans wouldn't piss me off as much.