Ballmer Repeats Threats Against Linux

daria42 writes "Steve Ballmer has reissued Microsoft's patent threat against Linux, warning open-source vendors that they must respect his company's intellectual property. In a no-nonsense presentation to New York financial analysts last week, Microsoft's chief executive said the company's partnership with Novell, which it signed in November 2006, "demonstrated clearly the value of intellectual property, even in the open-source world.""

Comments

For the first time i will disagree with RMS

[GNUALMAFUERTE]

I'm tired of GPL. I want just Public Domain. Companies make a profit from GPL source anyway, and there are ways to make pseudo proprietary solutions like Red Hat anyway based on Free Software code.

Not only that, but using the GPL let's all this assholes bother us just like SCO did, and let's all this shit happened.

Just put everything on Public Domain, no accountability, no patent infringement (Maybe, but it's public domain, who are you going to sue?).

Also, no more try to convince people that Free Software is good. People is stupid and they have the shit they asked for. They want to use Windows? Better for us. We already have a huge code base that is free and that everyone can use, and we will continue developing it.

Let's really fuck the big guys. Who is going to profit from using our code to make proprietary products? Some small company like codeweavers?, or even red hat?. Let them do it, that doesn't really affect us.
And while we keep using the GPL, we are part of the market, and we play under their rules. What we have to give them is ZERO ACCOUNTABILITY.

And, about their FUD, should we care? Sometime ago i really wanted companies and individuals to know the benefits of Free Software, to use and contribute to it. Right now? The information is out there. The GNU System is complete, and it's the best operating system ever created. We have a great Kernel for it, a few years ago i would have minded if it was Linux and not something produced by the GNU Project. Right now?, i want the code, and i want it free. I still adhere to the ideals of RMS and the FSF, it's just that i want the rights we fought for only for us. Aristotle said that pity was a sick and dangerous state of mind. Thanks to the work started by RMS more than 20 years ago, we have a full Free Operating System, and lots of applications. They are under a Free License and everyone can use it. Trying to help certain people to understand the benefits of using this software after 20 years of doing it is feeling pity for them. And, as Nietzsche said "The weak and the botched shall perish: first principle of our charity. And one should help them to it."
They are the weak. We should now get out of the middle, be happy using our software, and let them perish. It's the kind of life they have chosen.