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Microsoft Takes Responsibility For GPL Violation
An anonymous reader writes with an update to the news we discussed last weekend that a Windows 7 utility seemed to contain GPL code:
"Microsoft has confirmed that the Windows 7 USB/DVD tool did, in fact, use GPL code, and they have agreed to release the tool's source code under the terms of GPLv2. In a statement, Microsoft said creation of the tool had been contracted out to a third party and apologized for not noticing the GPL code during a code review."
shit in one hand and shit in the other, see which one fills up faster.
You mean Windows 7. Cool beans, though!! It'll be the most secure part of the OS, since it's open source and will get reviewed by many (well, least several) pairs of eyes.
Nothing interesting to say...MUST...NOT...REPLY...ohtheheckwithit.
Would it shock me to learn that MS specifically instructed the "third party" to insert GPL'ed code into the program, with the express intent to be "caught" and present an image of a company that made an honest mistake and wants to put everything right, to improve their public image? No it would not.
I'm not paranoid. I'm cynical.
(captcha: Corrupt)
Awesome!
What is so awesome about MS staging a GPL violation that "forces" them to release the source code of their product? This will only feed the "GPL is cancer" mindset.
By the way: GPL _is_ cancer: for developers who want to use other peoples' code and not give back. But MS products are cancer for end users, who face interoperability issues when even thinking about leaving MS's operating system, web browser, office suite, or instant messenger. Not to mention forced upgrades.
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
Far, far from awesome.
If ever a story deserved the "itsatrap" tag, it's this one.
All Microsoft had to do was remove the offending code. Instead they built themselves a 1st party case study in how the GPL is a virus that forces companies to give up their intellectual property.
I wouldn't want to be the consulting company that provided Microsoft with this code. They're in some deep doo-doo now.
Hah! Who's going to go to Bangalore and find them? I saw Slumdog Millionare, I know how those conniving kids can run...
Which non-prescription drugs are you combining for that good feeling.
Every mans' island needs an ocean; choose your ocean carefully.
Is there any reason why Microsoft cannot mirror open repositories (they are already in the mirroring business, aren't they?) and perhaps compare their code base to it? Wouldn't that be in their best interest for identifying their stolen code in the wild, if there ever was any? If Microsoft really are at the center of technology, how could they be ignorant of what technology can do for their business?
If this is not a sign of mismanagement at Microsoft, I don't know what is. Their putrid corporate culture needs to be replaced, but the sense of entitlement that technologist cum executives feel for their peer group will prevent that from happening so long as the shareholders drink the Kool Aid. Microsoft's resources go to waste feeding those that feel they earned their place. A fine example of "Fuck You, Got Mine."
All of this has a cost to the earth and its denizens, who are also bound to this company's software. Let us not forget the actions they took to enslave mankind, and the price we have paid. They drain us of our resources by making high-cost software, and the return we reap is low.
I'm willing to forgive Microsoft at some point. They have amassed resources and supposedly high technology, they are likely to thrive at some point and return to the world what it has taken. They must be a trimmer company by then. They must be willing to conduct business honestly and efficiently. Until then, I will treat them for what they are: a parasite that grows fatter every day.
A message to all senior staff at Microsoft: embrace change, and remember that working is not optional for the grateful. We should repay every good human who has worked to make this world a better place. To feed from the world and not give back betrays our struggle to survive as a species. The entitled are a net detractor to our goal.
Death to entitlement.
Death to selfishness.
Change the world: reject these things, and condemn them to death. We must change. We must evolve. Allow the human brain to change by denying the concepts that underlie these terrible behaviours. We evolved these things, we can evolve them away, too. The world will be a better place without them. It's sad that we won't be around to see it, but it is we who must make the first steps. Do it for those who have done much greater for us. Do it for our descendants.
We don't need to worry about ourselves as long as we care for each other.