Date: Fri, 06 Nov 1998 00:00:18 -0500 From: Drew Baxter <netmonger@genesis.ispace.com> To: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com>, freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Halloween memo - what does it mean? Message-ID: <4.1.19981105234842.00aa25c0@genesis.ispace.com> In-Reply-To: <36427EB4.AABA1891@softweyr.com>
next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
---Cnet.com was dropped from the CC, didn't think it needed to go to them?--- At 09:44 PM 11/5/98 -0700, Wes Peters wrote: >I have just re-read several portions of the "Halloween Memo," and >some of the on-line media coverage of it. While wading through all >of the hooplah, I came across a nugget of wisdom in a C|Net article >entitled "Memo angers open source advocates," in which writer Mike >Ricciuti paraphrases the memo thusly: > >"Warning that the growing popularity of Linux and other so-called open >source software (OSS) poses a direct threat to Microsoft's revenue >stream..." > >Now how many of us here REALLY believe Microsoft is concerned with >the impact of Linux, Apache, Sendmail, or any other "Open Source >Software" on their bottom line? Show of hands? > >Yes, Terry, you may go to the bathroom. Anyone else? I thought not. > Damn, can I have the pass when he gets back, Mr. Peters? >So why, you must ask yourself, are we hearing about the "Linux threat" >daily? Why is something that has NEVER before popped up on the radar >screen suddenly become the "talk of the town?" Why do we suddenly >have two memos leaked from one of the most paranoid organizations in >the world, perhaps second only to Intel? Why indeed! What is Microsoft >up to? I don't hear about it every day. But pretty close. I started to hear about the Linux threat when I was reading up on Caldera's "You can use DR DOS Under Windows 95, it's just Microsoft sucks" stuff. > >The LAWSUIT, dummy! > >I wonder how Mr. Raymond is going to feel, when he wakes up after all >this is over, faced with his real position in this global power play. >The Microsoft PR engine, recognizing Mr. Raymond for his rabid >advocacy and limited foresight, has played him like a Stradivarius. >They don't even have to conduct the campaign themselves; all they >have to do is conjure up a fake memo each week, "leak" it to their >unwitting friend Snark, and let him tell the entire Internet and >hence the world that Linux is going to clobber Microsoft and render >them monopoly-less. Oh yeah, we're going to see the Penguin stomp the Microsoft logo. Personally I think the 100+ messages regarding the damn thing over the last week or two in the FreeBSD lists alone is getting rather old. Does this really affect FreeBSD? Not yet. Could Microsoft eventually affect FreeBSD and OSS? Maybe. But I could tell you I'm going to shit on your foot, but if I do it, it's a totally other thing.. >And that is the point of all this, is it not: Microsoft cannot have >a MONOPOLY on desktop computing because all those rabid Linux fans >out there are giving away their system, right? Free is the universal solvent. You can't beat free. That's why you see people (Netmarket for instance) giving away free Travel stuff and things like that. Because if they give it away, you look at their site, maybe buy something, sign up, etc. >I can't wait to see what next week's memo will bring. Another >internal memo describing how IE 5.0 will recognize Apache and Netscape >web servers and respond slower to them, making them look less responsive? >(Oh, that's right, IE 4.0 *already does this.*) Extensions to >Exchange that make it incompatible with mail clients from Netscape >and Eudora. But that's already public policy, leaked in this week's >memo. Boy, you never know what "innovation" those Microsoft product >planners will come up with next, do you? No that's Microsoft's Media Player 2.0 intentionally causing a problem in which it breaks Realplayer. Oracle(?) reported issues of this happening with their software too. Personally, I think Operating System manufacturers shouldn't be allowed to make market-competitive applications. Not if we're just going to have intentional flukes exploited by installing Exchange and Eudora on a machine or something like that. Microsoft is testing the waters for laws that haven't been established. HOPEFULLY, We will get some standards as to what is correct etiquette and what is downright bad for competition. > >-- > "Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?" > >Wes Peters Softweyr LLC >http://www.softweyr.com/~softweyr wes@softweyr.com > --- Drew "Droobie" Baxter Network Admin/Professional Computer Nerd(TM) OneEX: The OneNetwork Exchange 207-942-0275 http://www.droo.orland.me.us My Latest Kernel: FreeBSD 3.0-CURRENT (ONEEX) #14: Mon Oct 19 22:36:58 EDT 1998 To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?4.1.19981105234842.00aa25c0>