Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1998 15:49:08 +1030 From: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com> To: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com>, freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Cc: miker@cnet.com Subject: Re: Halloween memo - what does it mean? Message-ID: <19981106154908.A1776@freebie.lemis.com> In-Reply-To: <36427EB4.AABA1891@softweyr.com>; from Wes Peters on Thu, Nov 05, 1998 at 09:44:36PM -0700 References: <36427EB4.AABA1891@softweyr.com>
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On Thursday, 5 November 1998 at 21:44:36 -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? Me. > I thought not. > > 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? > > The LAWSUIT, dummy! No doubt. > 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. Certainly there's a good question about how Eric came to get hold of these documents. > 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? Right. It's a good thing that FreeBSD doesn't figure Yes, I got the impression pretty early on that this whole business is at least partially related to the lawsuit. But that doesn't mean that that is the only reason, nor that Microsoft deliberately planted it. Think back to when it came out, and people claimed that esr had written it himself, and others said that it looked nothing like Microslop. I suspect that this memo does, in fact, reflect Microsoft's concerns to some degree. It's been written by a minion (I got a mail message from somebody who went to school with him and gave him a call when he heard. He doesn't want his name to be mentioned), and there's no evidence that Microsoft is going to do what he recommends. Maybe they decided the best thing they could do with it is leak it. But I think you're misjudging Microsoft if you think that's the only reason it was written. Greg -- See complete headers for address, home page and phone numbers finger grog@lemis.com for PGP public key To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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