Make no doubt about it, MS can afford to and will make drastic price cuts and offer free upgrades if Linux becomes a serious competitor.
Microsoft may be able to afford that but Microsoft shareholders can't. Make no mistake about it, Microsoft will be punished in the stock market for any discounting, especially if it looks like it might go on for a long time.
"Because many distros will not ship non-free software by default. This greatly limits the usefulness of Java as a general development language for Linux applications."
Doesn't that say more about Linux than it does about Sun?
Sure, however without Linux's support Java will remain marginalized as a server-side business scripting language. Java needs Linux, Linux does not need Java. Certainly not enough to include non-free software as a core component.
Sun will bow to this imperative, it's only a question of how much they need to hurt themselves before seeing the light.
"You relize were only talking about 20 bucks or so, right?"
You're quite wrong, it's closer to $80 to the OEM it will be a hundred by the time you buy it. Only the largest OEMs get discounts and it doesn't bring it down a lot, $60 at lowest.
"So you have to wonder, given that MS can set prices at will, how much extra padding could be built into every copy of Windows and Office sold in the EU to make up the fine."
Like waving a red flag at a bull. The next action would be for monopoly price gouging and the fine would be be some multiple of the illegal gains, perhaps retroactive to some date in the far past.
"The question is - how many nerds use Hotmail.com, and why does this non-event warrant a front page article?"
It's always interesting when a showpiece Microsoft system goes comatose for hours on end. Isn't the Navy trying to install Microsoft networks on its cruisers?
i thought to myself, what about BMRT as a renderman compliant renderer, if there is a Mac version, for those not wanting to wait for Pixar or Apple. But now www.bmrt.org doesn't seem to be resolving, and any results Google gives back seem to be a bit dated.
As much as I hate to say this again, the justice system isn't going to do a thing against MS as long as they don't commit massive frauds or something similiar.
I would imagine that a condition of the "discount" EV1 received from SCO was non-disclosure of the actual price.
So EV1 hasn't disclosed the price and they haven't disclosed what the "IP" is they licensed. But they have made a high profile disclosure that they bought the protection. This stinks to high heaven.
Brilliant comment, however: "He did this for the PR". No, the only theoretical beneficiaries will be their Linux users, and most will be outraged by this action, which plainly supports SCOX strategems. So there is another explanation, likely measured in dollars.
is why anyone would accept this piece at face value. Notice that it doesn't link any sources. Are there any? Not as far as I can tell. I've trolled the german IT news sites (I read german) and I haven't found anything that smacks remotely of the claims the article makes.
The only actual quote in the article is from Balmmer: "They're saying it's more expensive" and he goes on to gush: "All of a sudden it's more expensive now to use the Linux solution than the Windows solution." I seriously doubt that any evidence of this can be found in the German press. I certainly can't find any. I also asked my German friends in IT if they had heard of anything. No they hadn't. If there is no evidence, then Ballmer is a bare-faced liar.
What I suspect we have here is simply Ballmer cackling over the results of a FUD piece that he had planted in the first place. If so, it's nothing new, it's the level of ethics we've come to expect from Microsoft.
I seem to recall that the "male magician" sense of mandrake is an English word as well, though I could be mistake about that. Merriam-Webster is not exactly the world's most authoritative dictionary.
if this does become a serious dispute, I can see it being a good thing for the desktop
Chuckle. What is not serious about this dispute already? And yes, it is a good thing, I hope that the end result is a complete shakeup of the XFree project and reinvigoration of the forks. It would also be nice to see some of the bigger players (IBM, HP, Dell, I mean you) throw some money at key developers.
Well, well, well, SCO finally lays its cards on the table and what do you know? All jokers, at least all the claims about IBM's contributions to Linux. However, they do make various allegations having to do with IBM's supposed unathorized use of library code developed by SCO:
Upon information and belief, AutoZone's new Linux based software implemented by IBM featured SCO's shared libraries which had been stripped out of SCO's UNIX based OpenServer by IBM and embedded inside AutoZone's Linux implementation in order to continue to allow the continued operation of AutoZone's legacy applications. The basis for SCO's belief is the precision and efficiency with which the migration to Linux occurred, which suggests the use of shared libraries to run legacy applications on Linux. Among other things, this was a breach of the AutoZone OpenServer License Agreement for use of SCO software beyond the scope of the license.
Hmm, evidence seems a little thin there, actually "suspicion" would be a better word that evidence. Personally, I think SCO is just blowing hot air once again, and that IBM will simply show that and code conversions done in their contract work were done without the help of shared libraries owned by SCO, or if the customer did continue using them, that they had every right to. This should be rather cut and dried has nothing to do with SCO's ownership claims in Linux. It's just another amusing sideshow brought to us courtesy of the clowns at SCO.
The central point of this filing of course is SCO's rejection as "overly broad and unduly burdensome" IBM's question about what specific source code in Linux they think they own rights too. If their goal is to obtain a mistrial by causing the judge to burst an artery laughing, they just might do it:-)
Missing the point my friend, but then so did the poster. Nothing is said about Apple loosing ground.
If anything, Apple will gain ground along with Linux, because Linux shows that alternatives are OK, and that heterogenous shops work just fine. Also, Apple is at heart not that much different from Linux anymore, being a flavor of FreeBSD.
If you eliminate the effect of the stock options their expenses as a % of revenue actually decreases.
You can't. Stock options come straight out of the shareholders' collective pocket, therefore treating them as anything other than an expense is a serious misrepresentation.
Slashdot Mirror
Make no doubt about it, MS can afford to and will make drastic price cuts and offer free upgrades if Linux becomes a serious competitor.
Microsoft may be able to afford that but Microsoft shareholders can't. Make no mistake about it, Microsoft will be punished in the stock market for any discounting, especially if it looks like it might go on for a long time.
if i recall correctly, SDL was originally developed by a guy who worked at Loki.
Actually, Loki hired the guy who developed SDL.
is this worth purchasing as a MPEG, MP3 and PVR entertainment PC?
Be aware that the cheap fan makes it sound like a lawnmower.
"Because many distros will not ship non-free software by default. This greatly limits the usefulness of Java as a general development language for Linux applications."
Doesn't that say more about Linux than it does about Sun?
Sure, however without Linux's support Java will remain marginalized as a server-side business scripting language. Java needs Linux, Linux does not need Java. Certainly not enough to include non-free software as a core component.
Sun will bow to this imperative, it's only a question of how much they need to hurt themselves before seeing the light.
"How open is OpenFirmware?"
Completely.
"You relize were only talking about 20 bucks or so, right?"
You're quite wrong, it's closer to $80 to the OEM it will be a hundred by the time you buy it. Only the largest OEMs get discounts and it doesn't bring it down a lot, $60 at lowest.
"So you have to wonder, given that MS can set prices at will, how much extra padding could be built into every copy of Windows and Office sold in the EU to make up the fine."
Like waving a red flag at a bull. The next action would be for monopoly price gouging and the fine would be be some multiple of the illegal gains, perhaps retroactive to some date in the far past.
"The question is - how many nerds use Hotmail.com, and why does this non-event warrant a front page article?"
It's always interesting when a showpiece Microsoft system goes comatose for hours on end. Isn't the Navy trying to install Microsoft networks on its cruisers?
i thought to myself, what about BMRT as a renderman compliant renderer, if there is a Mac version, for those not wanting to wait for Pixar or Apple. But now www.bmrt.org doesn't seem to be resolving, and any results Google gives back seem to be a bit dated.
Take a look at aqsis.
As much as I hate to say this again, the justice system isn't going to do a thing against MS as long as they don't commit massive frauds or something similiar.
What is not massive about this fraud?
I would imagine that a condition of the "discount" EV1 received from SCO was non-disclosure of the actual price.
So EV1 hasn't disclosed the price and they haven't disclosed what the "IP" is they licensed. But they have made a high profile disclosure that they bought the protection. This stinks to high heaven.
Brilliant comment, however: "He did this for the PR". No, the only theoretical beneficiaries will be their Linux users, and most will be outraged by this action, which plainly supports SCOX strategems. So there is another explanation, likely measured in dollars.
Apparently paid a million or more of but had access to a ten million
legal defense fund, so I think this is a more likely explanation.
Give this company no peace, something has passed under the table.
is why anyone would accept this piece at face value. Notice that it doesn't link any sources. Are there any? Not as far as I can tell. I've trolled the german IT news sites (I read german) and I haven't found anything that smacks remotely of the claims the article makes.
The only actual quote in the article is from Balmmer: "They're saying it's more expensive" and he goes on to gush: "All of a sudden it's more expensive now to use the Linux solution than the Windows solution." I seriously doubt that any evidence of this can be found in the German press. I certainly can't find any. I also asked my German friends in IT if they had heard of anything. No they hadn't. If there is no evidence, then Ballmer is a bare-faced liar.
What I suspect we have here is simply Ballmer cackling over the results of a FUD piece that he had planted in the first place. If so, it's nothing new, it's the level of ethics we've come to expect from Microsoft.
According to Merriam-Webster.
I seem to recall that the "male magician" sense of mandrake is an English word as well, though I could be mistake about that. Merriam-Webster is not exactly the world's most authoritative dictionary.
if this does become a serious dispute, I can see it being a good thing for the desktop
Chuckle. What is not serious about this dispute already? And yes, it is a good thing, I hope that the end result is a complete shakeup of the XFree project and reinvigoration of the forks. It would also be nice to see some of the bigger players (IBM, HP, Dell, I mean you) throw some money at key developers.
Well, well, well, SCO finally lays its cards on the table and what do you know? All jokers, at least all the claims about IBM's contributions to Linux. However, they do make various allegations having to do with IBM's supposed unathorized use of library code developed by SCO:
:-)
Upon information and belief, AutoZone's new Linux based software implemented by IBM featured SCO's shared libraries which had been stripped out of SCO's UNIX based OpenServer by IBM and embedded inside AutoZone's Linux implementation in order to continue to allow the continued operation of AutoZone's legacy applications. The basis for SCO's belief is the precision and efficiency with which the migration to Linux occurred, which suggests the use of shared libraries to run legacy applications on Linux. Among other things, this was a breach of the AutoZone OpenServer License Agreement for use of SCO software beyond the scope of the license.
Hmm, evidence seems a little thin there, actually "suspicion" would be a better word that evidence. Personally, I think SCO is just blowing hot air once again, and that IBM will simply show that and code conversions done in their contract work were done without the help of shared libraries owned by SCO, or if the customer did continue using them, that they had every right to. This should be rather cut and dried has nothing to do with SCO's ownership claims in Linux. It's just another amusing sideshow brought to us courtesy of the clowns at SCO.
The central point of this filing of course is SCO's rejection as "overly broad and unduly burdensome" IBM's question about what specific source code in Linux they think they own rights too. If their goal is to obtain a mistrial by causing the judge to burst an artery laughing, they just might do it
Missing the point my friend, but then so did the poster. Nothing is said about Apple loosing ground.
If anything, Apple will gain ground along with Linux, because Linux shows that alternatives are OK, and that heterogenous shops work just fine. Also, Apple is at heart not that much different from Linux anymore, being a flavor of FreeBSD.
If you work on any Open Source project, DO NOT LOOK!
Don't be silly, no kernel hacker is the slightest bit interested in looking at that leaky, sludgy mess.
"Utility computer systems are not attached to the Internet. They will not be directly exposed to attacks based on this or any other security flaw."
Sorry, you are wrong, it is well documented that the Slammer worm penetrated a nuclear power plant's safety monitoring system.
Symbian: Mature, Lightweight, Proprietary - controlled by competitor.
PalmOS: Mature, Lightweight, Proprietary - controlled by neutral third party.
PocketPC: Mature, Heavyweight, Proprietary - controlled by neutral third party.
Linux: Immature, Heavyweight, entirely open
Ecos: Mature, lightweight, entirely open
I think, in true Microsoft fashion, we'll see the new VPC changed slightly and then become the foundation of their (gaming) business.
How do you suppose they will emulate nVidia on a Radeon?
If you eliminate the effect of the stock options their expenses as a % of revenue actually decreases.
You can't. Stock options come straight out of the shareholders' collective pocket, therefore treating them as anything other than an expense is a serious misrepresentation.
Revenue is your gross income.
Income and profit are synonyms. Revenue and sales are synonyms. Gross income is revenue minus cost of sales.
Dump MSFT if you want, but, much as all of the Linux zealots here want to see it, the company isn't in the remotest danger of financial trouble
No, but the stock is in trouble, you'd be well advised not to park your retirement savings there.