| Judge for yourself: |  |
Posted on 11/18/2004 8:48:26 AM PST by Prime Choice
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Microsoft Corp. Chief Operating Officer Steve Ballmer on Thursday warned Asian governments that they could face intellectual rights-infringement lawsuits for using rival open-source operating platforms such as Linux.
Linux is open-code software that is freely available on the Internet and easily modified by users.
Its growing popularity with companies and governments around the world, and particularly in Asia, is a threat to the global dominance of Microsoft's proprietary Windows platform.
Ballmer, speaking in Singapore at Microsoft's Asian Government Leaders Forum, said that Linux violated more than 228 patents. He did not provide any detail on the alleged violations, which the Linux community disputes.
"Someday, for all countries that are entering the WTO (World Trade Organization), somebody will come and look for money owing to the rights for that intellectual property," he added.
Linux users got a scare earlier this year when software developer SCO Group Inc. sued a company for using Linux, which SCO claimed contains software code that it owns.
SCO is also embroiled in a lawsuit against IBM, claiming that the computer giant illegally built SCO's software code into Linux.
Singapore's Ministry of Defense last month switched 20,000 personal computers to run on open-source software instead of the Microsoft operating platform.
Other governments in the region are also looking to develop open-source software. China, Japan and South Korea this year agreed to jointly develop open-source software running on Microsoft's rival Linux operating platform.
The Chinese government, in particular, sees its reliance on Microsoft as a potential threat. Conspiracy buffs believe certain patches in the Windows code might give U.S. authorities the power to access Chinese networks and disable them, possibly during a war over Taiwan.
Ballmer said the security fears some governments had about using Microsoft software were overblown.
"We think our software is far more secure than open-source software. It is more secure because we stand behind it, we fixed it, because we built it. Nobody ever knows who built open-source software," he added.
These XP sections of computer forums aren't exactly catching dust from inactivity:
http://discussions.virtualdr.com/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=25
http://www.cybertechhelp.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=26
Thanks. That is really cool that you can use both to get a feel for it.
One thing that you might want to do before you jump right in, is go to Knoppix.org and download the Knoppix ISO. Pop the sucker in your CD drive, and boot. It will give you at least a feel for the state of Linux today. The best thing is, since it is running off CD, you can't break it, no matter what you type!
Knoppix is also an invaluable tool to have in your arsenal for the inevitable windows crashes in case windows refuses to boot and you want to save your data before you re-install. One of my wife's co-workers had her laptop crash, and the windows tech they paid to come out and look at it basically told her the hard disk had errors, would need to be replaced, and she'd lose all her data.
I took the laptop home, booted Knoppix and in 20 minutes had cut a CD of her data that I'd FTP'd to my workstation. The tech was right in that the drive was failing, and would need to be replaced, but at least I'd been able to save her data. --- Knoppix - Don't leave home without it!
Monkey Boy has got to be as irrational as Darl if he thinks that kind of talk is going to give people warm fuzzies about Microsoft.
Ballmer... said that Linux violated more than 228 patents.
Yeah... and Microsoft later kinda issued a retraction.
"Someday, for all countries that are entering the WTO (World Trade Organization), somebody will come and look for money owing to the rights for that intellectual property," he added.
In yer dreams, Stevie. Thanks to SCO, people are going to want to see some proof next time.
"We think our software is far more secure than open-source software. It is more secure because we stand behind it, we fixed it, because we built it. Nobody ever knows who built open-source software," he added.
And, as I suspected, Microsoft doesn't really know where its own software came from.
[T]he Redmond software vendor, like a growing number of corporations, is availing itself of a variety of tools for monitoring the source of its own source code, Microsoft officials said.
David Kaefer, Microsoft's director of business development for IP and licensing, told Microsoft Watch earlier this month that Microsoft has been creating process controls to ensure that Microsoft knows from where its own code is coming. Microsoft has created a number of tools and is licensing others that will allow the company to make sure that there is no hidden code (open-source or otherwise) in its products that shouldn't be there, Kaefer said.
| Judge for yourself: | |
LOL!
You've never had a WinXP system crash?
I really enjoy using XP. It's much peppier than Windows 2k. When mcshield or scan32 kick in, I can even move my mouse every few seconds. Sometimes it even takes the click. Very productive OS.
Do we have to go through this again?
Are you going to continue to blame everyone except the people that wrote the OS? There are lots and lots and lots of reports of XP crashing using only Microsoft-provided drivers.
Who are you going to blame for that? The user?
He's talking about his standard Redmond talking points, not reality.
I've been running Linux exclusively on desktops and laptops for nearly 4 years.
The reality is...
One copy of Knoppix, one reboot, a complete stable operating system without touching your existing setup.
The problem with Windows is that it consumes too much in computer resources. Every time Intel and Dell make new computers that should run 50% faster than the previous generation, the new version of Windows consumes half the extra computing power so the computer only runs 25% faster. If Microsoft wants to maintain their market share they need to pare down the code, use less memory and speed up Windows in a big way.
Me neither.
Of course, I run win2k.
Look, Ballmer isn't just speaking to the Asians here; this story has been picked up world-wide. Remember how you guys squealed about Linus Torvalds' "hit man" comment in the LKML; Ballmer is using a public forum to threaten governments, and IMO that's not too smart.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.