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MS Has Free Software Removed From U.N. Paper
linumax writes "Microsoft asked for references to free software to be removed from a document presented at last week's UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) conference, the software giant admitted on Friday. The Free Software Foundation Europe (FSFE) is unhappy that the document was changed and claims that even though it was on the panel discussing the document, it was not made aware of Microsoft's changes. The document (2.8MB PDF), known as the Vienna Conclusions, discusses issues around IT and creativity. The original draft of the document discussed how the free software model is changing the way people do business."
Well the paper might have originally described how free software works but what was done clearly shows how commercial software works.
MS is trying to stop the sea with its hands as they say, all it will manage to do is perhaps to slow it a bit, but everybody knows that nothing will stop the revolution. In a certain way this is pathetic.
How exactly are you going to "play dirty" with Microsoft?
And will your "playing dirty" result in better open source software? I doubt it. That's why it is probably best for the community to just continue producing superior products, and eventually people will migrate the to the best (and likely open source) products.
Cyric Zndovzny at your service.
It's just so absurd, they walk around, flash some cash and get what they want done. This all after the whole european antitrust thing... I find it shocking they CAN have this removed. I wonder this isn't classed as attempted monopolisation, they are, after all trying to lock out other competitors from publicity.
~HTP~ Hug that tux
..is that for every token gesture they make to try and make the open source and free software movements warm to them and like them (opening up the next document formats in Office, etc), there is this kind of shit going on.
Sorry Microsoft.. you've earned your reptuation as underhanded, dirty, cheating assholes - and stupid stunts like this just continue to prove that you can't teach an old dog new tricks.
"Hey! Unless this is a nude love-in, get the hell off my property!!"
MS knows they cannot compete with open source software...... why else do they lie every chance they get, about it?
..... and they are very persistant about it.
Recently there was an article regarding a clone researcher being looked upon as being bad, when the fact of teh matter is that he only tried to hide the dishonesty of his associates upon his finding out they had lied regarding their donorship.
Now that's a case of one level disconnection from the initial deception. And consider what happened to him for it.
This MS constant lying is first degree deception, outright intentional
So why are they still in business?
Or is this only more proof that they are not genuine researchers or innovators, just used car salesmen selling the research and innovation others outside of them have done, as their own?
Its ok to lie, if you are a salesperson, but not a genuine researcher..... right?
References to free software and Linux were removed from a UN document after Microsoft claimed that such software aims to 'make it impossible to make any income on software as a commercial product'
Hello, Microsoft! Welcome to the post-GPL economy, where software income is based on services!
Guess the "ignore us" and "laugh at us" phases are officially over.
Of course they are voluntary, did Sony install a rootkit in your computer against their will? Of course not, they even thought you didn't need to bother about it because you didn't know what it was...
Is it other than market driven? The editors practically control the market. I find it harder and harder to buy Music in an unencumbered format...
...point them at this story.
If the UN were "communist", or any other relative or variant of socialism, they wouldn't allow one of the world's most famous capitalist entities to push them around.
With spending like this, exactly what are "conservatives" conserving?
I find it amusing that the Slashdot crowd can howl about their rights being taken away and look to the UN, a coalition of mostly dictator-based nations, for some sort of "purity" of government.
In a linked article in the article, Charles mentions that Linux is for "dorks".
Every time I read that "Linux is behind, incapable" or whatever, I take note that they don't understand shit. First off, Linux is a small part of the Desktop setup. The other thing I note is I'm sitting here just happy on my Desktop running Gentoo. It does everything I want [which is more than WinXP can deliver anyways] and it didn't cost me a dime other than time to set it up.
It's good that people are catching MSFT in their lies and poor behaviour but for every MSFT person saying "Linux is bad" there is just another person using an OSS kernel with OSS userland tools scratching their heads. And in the end it's really just that. Some MSFT guy saying something. Sure there are people who buy it without question but there are still more that are aware of it and people taking action on it.
It's just far far far too late. I mean all the negative press in the world won't make the millions of OSS users switch. And as long as there is 1 OSS user out there, it won't die.
So go ahead MSFT, act all desperate marketting and FUD'ing against OSS. You could be better served by actually delivering stuff of value. It sucks that an OS has lost "value" [in light of Linux or BSD + OSS userland] but that's it. No clever amount of marketting will make something that has no value all of a sudden have value.
Tom
Someday, I'll have a real sig.
And yet people continue to buy the latest offerings from M$ while this type of thing continues. Jesus, if you care about free software and the philosophy behind it all, STOP FEEDING the monster you so despise! There's a reason people like Gandhi are so few and so famous, because most people are too chicken shit to stand up for something worthwhile, something larger than themselves. They would much rather blow off steam by typing a few words of hate online about a company before sitting down to play with a gadget offered from the same company they claim to hate! What we need to rock the boat are television commercials and newspaper ads (like the Firefox NYT ad for example) about the virtues of FOSS. People volunteering to set up booths/tables near high foot traffic areas to hand out informational materials and Linux install/live CDs would also go a long way to spreading the word. Wikis are useful and cool but if more effort was devoted to pushing the FOSS philosophy out in the real world, maybe so many people wouldn't be brainwashed into one corporation's way of thinking.
Would you rather they played with weapons and armies? For all of recorded history we tried that, and all it got us was to the brink of destruction.
Open dialog is something new, we've only been really trying it since the Soviet Union fell. Give it time for us to learn how to get better at it and do it right before dismissing it.
This is not a sig.
The saddest thing about the U.N. at the moment though is the fall from grace of the once eminent Kofi Annan.
Wow, the guys at microsoft are really scared so much that they're becoming irrational:
Just a question, how many of you have ever written free software explicitly to put a company (say, MS) out of business?
Maybe you wrote a program after seeing a commercial implementation, but probably only because you wanted to improve on it or make it available for your favourite os. OS software is written because there is a need for it, not to push others out of business.
Yes there are other companies using open source as a business strategy. A strategy that works well against competitors like microsoft, but clearly has its own pitfalls as well...
so please Bill, keep your paranoia at home and stop messing with politics
> 10. Give the gift of Linux this holiday season. If a few burned CDs are too cheap for you, buy a Linux book that comes with the CDs.
>
> 6. Go to the Ubuntu site - the page where you can order an Ubuntu disk sent to you for free - and fill in RANDOM ADDRESSES. Mystery gifts from the software fairy.
>
> 1. Go to second-hand stores such as Salvation Army and Goodwill. Find a used computer on sale plugged in and running. Stick Knoppix on it. Reboot it. Walk away whistling. Trust me, I've spoken to employee and customer alike at these places - nobody would ever know the difference!
It's suggestions like the above that make me think half of the Linux/Free Software movement have jumped over from the Evangelical religious crowd. (I'm a long-time user of Linux myself, it's just the above wouldn't particularily motivate me to join the Linux crowd if I wasn't already. More likely the reverse, actually.)
Also, regarding #6... How many people are going to just install something that just turns up in their (physical) mailbox (I'm fully aware that people run anything they get in their email, but running mysterious CDs they get in their mailboxes isn't as likely to happen. And AOL is heavily advertised, so that doesn't apply either).
(And I'm sure the staff of #1 are _really_ going to appreciate it if they find out.)
Give the gift of Linux this holiday season.
Which holiday would that be? There are like 100 a year and granted, most have passed, but there are still a few left (not all are printed on a calendar).
this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom. -- Lincoln, Gettysburg Address
10. Give the gift of Linux this holiday season. If a few burned CDs are too cheap for you, buy a Linux book that comes with the CDs.
10a) How many of us have nerd families that would appreciate this?
9. Refer all charity organizations and any group strapped for cash to Linux. Every year when my kid's school does parent-teacher conferences, I never fail to bring up open-source after the teachers mention school budget cutbacks. (there's always a good opportunity to work that in when the teachers apologize for not getting the reports printed out because XP crashed - again!)
9a) Not bad, but the teachers are clueluess in general. Your crusade falls on deaf ears. Else they wouldn't be working at a primary school. Those who can do, those who can't teach.
8. Drop IE-compatibility from your websites. Use this: http://www.stopie.com/stopie/home/ which will refer viewers to download Firefox. Aren't you tired of having to make your website botched up just to work for the lamest browser on the web, anyway?
8a) Yeah, that's realistic. Do you have a job?
7. Earn money by referring people to Firefox with Google toolbar while you're at it: http://downhillbattle.org/node/view/554 Who *says* there's no money in free software?
7a) I agree.
6. Go to the Ubuntu site - the page where you can order an Ubuntu disk sent to you for free - and fill in RANDOM ADDRESSES. Mystery gifts from the software fairy.
6a) Yes, adding useless costs to free software projects is helping the cause. They don't mind paying to send those CDs out because it earns a new user. When you send out 1000 and 2 people install them, that's not helping.
5. Anybody with a CD burner and a Linux fetish will have old Linux CDs they don't use anymore - like when you've updated to the new version. Take these CDs with you to the library, and tuck them into the Windows books in the computer books section.
5a) Um, yeah. People stick random CDs into their computer. Then get confused when Windows won't run the installer. Case closed.
4. While you're in the library, be sure to fill out those request/suggestion forms for new books to buy with the latest Linux books you're just dying to check out - and hasn't "DOS for Dummies" and "Windows 3.1 - the complete reference" gotten old, anyway?
4a) I like this, around '97 when I first tried Linux it was frustrating there were no books at the library. (I was 13, then.)
3. Never pass a computer store without walking in and asking for software titles that run on Linux. The idea is to make them aware that Linux users *would* spend *some* money, if only anybody cared to do business with us.
3a) You're the Jehovah's Witness of Linux. Neat.
2. Teach your kids Linux. This is the easiest - kids will absorb Linux like little sponges, all you have to do is install it and stand back.
2a) This is a huge disservice, unless your kids already know Windows. They're going to need Windows for school and job skills, not Linux. Sorry.
1. Go to second-hand stores such as Salvation Army and Goodwill. Find a used computer on sale plugged in and running. Stick Knoppix on it. Reboot it. Walk away whistling. Trust me, I've spoken to employee and customer alike at these places - nobody would ever know the difference!
1a) Interesting, but who's going to know what it was running? From my experience when people don't recognize Windows and see a GUI they assume its a Mac, since thats all they know.
"2. Teach your kids Linux. This is the easiest - kids will absorb Linux like little sponges, all you have to do is install it and stand back."
2a) This is a huge disservice, unless your kids already know Windows. They're going to need Windows for school and job skills, not Linux. Sorry.
Rubbish. a) Windows is easy to pick up for anybody familiar with Linux. b) From my experience, Linux knowledge is worth significantly more in the marketplace than Windows knowledge. Windows jobs are mostly McJobs, Linux jobs are mostly career jobs.
When all you have is a hammer, every problem starts to look like a thumb.