Date: Wed, 10 Nov 1999 15:47:24 -0800 (PST) From: Alfred Perlstein <bright@wintelcom.net> To: Jonathon McKitrick <jcm@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org> Cc: Angus Scott-Fleming <angussf@geoapps.com>, freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Judge: "Gates Was Main Culprit" Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.05.9911101538550.12797-100000@fw.wintelcom.net> In-Reply-To: <Pine.BSF.4.02A.9911102250230.39054-100000@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org>
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On Wed, 10 Nov 1999, Jonathon McKitrick wrote:
> On Wed, 10 Nov 1999, Angus Scott-Fleming wrote:
>
> >On 7 Nov 99, at 17:40, Pedro Fernando Giffuni wrote:
> >
> >> Isn't it a good time to be a FreeBSD user? :-).
> >>
> >> I read the complete document(WOW, I wasn't aware of everything there).
> >> Considering a Judge wrote this, I think M$ is in big trouble.
> >
> >I think the whole computer business is in Big Trouble - once the
> >government steps in and starts telling us how to run our businesses,
> >innovation will drop to a crawl as bus.people try to 2nd-guess the govt
> >regulators.
> >
> >Not saying MS is/was right, but my solution has always been not to do
> >business with people whose business ethics are lousy. This is the only
> >ethical way to deal with people like that. Bringing the power of
> >government ("the mob") down on them is a short-term fix, but it's a
> >long-term problem as others will drag the govt. into this arena and
> >IMHO we'll all suffer for it.
> >
> >Open-source doesn't suffer from this problem because you can go
> >elsewhere for support when you don't like the ethics of the business
> >that's using/selling it.
>
> Unfortunately, you *can't* go anywhere else if you want the windows OS and
> software that works best with it. If windows had at least given its
> source code to developers, they could have improved it. Much like MSDOS,
> PCDOS, IBMDOS, COMPAQDOS, etc. But no, they kept it all a big secret. I
> think if windows went open source, it would be optimized and enhanced so
> quickly, and the public would benefit.
I don't think this is a fair assesment of what the case was about,
MS has been accused of several things:
1) paying off lead developers of competeing software so they leave
the competing firm
2) buying into a market, then using it's push to penalize companies
using a competator's services in the markets that is already has
a foothold in
3) penalizing companies that have any association with a competator
by raising license fees and withholding products.
4) adding gratitous incompatibilities to thier OS to break competator's
competing programs such as browsers and office suites.
That is what was unfair about MS's alleged business practices.
In point of open source, I don't think anyone wants to look at code
little with variables named ThisIsMyFunkyWidget_32compat, it would
potentially set the whole opensource community back 10 years when just
the site of such source could turn one into a raving, frothing madman.
:)
-Alfred
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