The DistRogue

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Microsoft: All talk and no code?

OK, OK, I was wrong. The "Microvell" deal (Microsoft partnering up with Novell) wasn't a lapse in Microsoft's decision-making capabilities, caused by a sudden realization that Linux is catching up to Windows (historic lapses including a certain cake...). Rather, as almost any Linux fan that reads Slashdot knows by now, it was a clever ploy to launch up to 283 lawsuits against Linux for intellectual-property infringement. Microsoft claims that some of Linux's code infringes on their intellectual property, and their partnership with Novell (Windows Vista and SLED 10 are still competing fiercely) only cemented this claim. So, we know what they want: to prove that we're wrong, and that we infringe on some code that Microsoft has locked away in the Vault of Redmond, and kernel developers have no access to whatsoever, and make a few quick bucks off of it in court. Oh, and to "dismantle Linux". Typical shady Redmond tactics. For that reason, we want as much as they do to see the offending code removed. Apparently, they want to see it as well- they even threatened court action against it! ;) But, we can't remove it if we don't know what the code is that we have to remove. So, Steve Ballmer, in four words:
Show us the code.
Showusthecode.com is an independent website where concerned Linux users can petition to have the code Microsoft apparently wants removed shown, so we can actually remove it. I beg (as they do) Mark Shuttleworth (Ubuntu), Kevin Carmony (Linspire/Freespire), Daniel Robbins (Gentoo), Richard Stallman (GNU Project), Linus Torvalds (kernel)... hell, anyone important who might have come across this page (or that page) to add your name. Because we can destroy Microsoft, or at least discredit them, no matter which direction they take. They can show us the code that they base so much on, or they can look foolish by refusing a challenge from the open-source community. Once the gauntlet has been thrown down, it's a win for us.
EDIT: Never mind. They'll never show us the code. They always take the route out that makes them look foolish. Just look at Steve Ballmer's "Developers" chant.
From Ubuntu 6.10,
The DistRogue.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well said.

3:25 PM  

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